Alastair Campbell: “I have never been asked that question before”

We had a terrific evening with Alastair Campbell at the Mile End Group at Queen Mary, University of London, yesterday. The video and transcript are here.* The Pepys of New Labour told how he kept a diary in tiny handwriting full of shorthand and abbreviations in exercise books and scraps of paper including the back of a White House menu.

The fourth volume of Campbell’s diaries, The Burden of Power, covering the period from 9/11 to August 2003, is published today. I asked him about Tony Blair’s decision in January 2003 to sack Gordon Brown and Campbell laughed, because Sally Morgan, Blair’s former political secretary who was in the audience, had rolled her eyes as if to say, “he didn’t, though, did he?”

Campbell enjoyed himself, heckling Morgan and Tessa Jowell, who arrived late and “made an entrance”, he said. Later, he told her off for checking her emails: it turned out that she was actually announcing her late arrival on Twitter.

And he congratulated the student who asked the first question from the audience for asking a question that he had never been asked before: Which of his legs is longer than the other? It turned out to be the left, and Campbell won applause for telling his questioner that, for asking a unique question, he would buy her a copy of his book.

There is plenty more in the book, apart from the differential length of the Campbell legs, to which this blog will be devoted for the next few days.

*The video runs out at about 58 minutes, but Campbell couldn’t be shut up, and insisted on answering everyone who wanted to ask a question, so the session overran by 20 minutes. The full video should be up tomorrow.

Recent Posts on Eagle Eye

• Cameron on Gay Marriage Should Make Us Proud
• What Focus Groups Say About Ed Miliband
• Cameron's possibly winning position
• "Clearing the Battlefield"
• UKIP Surges to Record High

• sheffieldutd

  Would he be that loquacious if he was being fitted up? Cardiff Three happened on Bliar’s watch n’est pas? “They just thought we would fade away”.

• smileoftdecade

  “Campbell couldn’t be shut up” when talking about politics/himself that is indeed a tough job, but someone should do it.

• Pacificweather

  I’ve heard the one in the middle is particularly short.

• Kugelschreiber

  NEWFRIENDOFED,

  Personally, I have no objections whatsoever to ads/publicity, provided they don’t force us to watch an advert for BAKED BEANS or LAGER or something at the end of every sentence!

• Kugelschreiber

  Thanks for the video John Rentoul, it’s interesting to learn a little more about Alastair. Whenever I listen to him, I am always struck by how very down to earth, real & sensible he seems. In fact, he’s a credit to Tony Blair, in that Tony chose him as his helper.

  I don’t agree with all the politics of the Nu-Labour though, for example, I feel nowadays we would be better out of Europe,most especially because of the free MIGRATION OF WORKERS, which gives our country both emotional & economic instability & a sense that we no longer OWN our country, & that our LEADERS do not put US first, as they should, but Tony always seemed very pro-Europe..