What could stop Sir Keir from becoming UK PM?
Polls show Labour headed for a landslide election victory. What could go wrong? Former Blair spin doctor Alastair Campbell weighs in.
Your podcast with Rory Stewart, The Rest Is Politics, has been a surprise hit. Why does the dynamic work? I still find it quite hard to understand. We have got very different backgrounds, from different parties, I’m 17 years older than he is. We have got similar views about the state of the world and the state of politics, but different ways of coming to it. We hit upon this motto of disagreeing agreeably.
The UK has had five prime ministers in eight years. Are they all casualties of Brexit? In some way, definitely. David Cameron lost his job because he lost the referendum. Theresa May lost her job because she couldn’t get her Brexit deal through her party. Boris Johnson lost his job because he is a lying git. Liz Truss? God knows what we make of her. And Rishi Sunak is struggling for all sorts of reasons. He has a pretty hard-right sovereign individual approach to the world where the rich should get richer at the expense of the poor. For a lot of the wealthy, I think that’s what Brexit was about. Populism, polarisation and post-truth – we have had them all – and a lot of damage has been done.
Yet you encourage young people to get involved in politics. How has that been received? The more you talk to them and the more you explain what politics is at its best, you can get them very fired up and excited. But I do worry about disengagement.
As Tony Blair’s communications director, you had a combative relationship with the media. Would you do things differently in hindsight? I’m not sure I could have done it that differently. (Australian media executive) John Hartigan once said to me, ‘The thing about the British press is that it’s the best in the world and it’s the worst in the world, and it’s often in the same edition’. There’s something in that. If you’ve got a body of press opinion that only cares about bringing you down, you’ve got to be pretty robust to stand up to it.
Why does Blair remain a controversial figure in the UK? For some people, he is never going to be anything other than associated with Iraq or it is that he’s gone on and made a lot of money. But you’ve been to his office: he is building an institute. He’s doing amazing work in different parts of the world and often in the poorest parts of the world. He’s producing interesting policy ideas. He is doing public service in a different way.
You have been open about your mental health challenges. What’s the best advice you have received? I met a woman who uses a jam jar as a tool. You imagine life as layers in a jar. Whenever I’m diving into depression, I pick up the jar on my desk and imagine layers that have helped me. My partner Fiona and my kids, as long as I’m getting on with them, I’m fine. If not, I’ve got to sort that out. The next layer is meaningful activity such as work. Then sleep, diet, exercise, music, my dog, my football team – things that give me a sense of my own life. When I first did it, I was almost full before I said medication and a psychiatrist.
Polls show Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour headed for a landslide victory. What could go wrong? I worry about apathy and volatility. I worry that in a campaign all sorts of stuff can happen. It is important that Labour does not take anything for granted and get people fired up. We need to see more policy. Not just the vision thing. It’s about giving people a sense that it can be so much better than this.
Anthony Albanese will face re-election in the next 12 months or so. What advice do you have? To frame it as: lots done, lots to do, lots to lose. You have to point to your record, you have to point to your future plan and you have to take on your opponents to say, ‘These guys have got nothing to offer.’ That should serve him pretty well.
Alastair Campbell is speaking at the Adelaide Festival, March 1-17
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