Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's official spokesman from 1994 to 2003.
He is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in Labour politics, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, charitable fundraising, politics and campaigning. He ran three successful election campaigns for The Labour Party.
Alastair played a key role helping to create New Labour and return the Party to power, along with other key figures such as Lord Mandelson. After the 1997 election he became the Prime Minister's Chief Press Secretary and Official Spokesman, which entailed the co-ordination of Government communications and twice daily briefings of the press. He did this job for Labour's first term but after helping Mr Blair win a second landslide election victory, he became Director of Communications and Strategy. He did this until he resigned in 2003.
He returned to the Labour Party for six months prior to the 2005 general election and continues to advise the party informally. He is one of the Labout Party’s most in-demand speakers at fundraising events, and was a founder of the GoFourth campaign aimed at focussing Party activists and the public on the need to understand the real choices facing the UK.
In 2007, he published his first book on his time with Tony Blair, "The Blair Years", extracts from his diaries from 1994 to 2003, which was an instant Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller. He published his first novel, "All In The Mind", in 2008, and his second novel, "Maya", published in 2009, is an analysis of fame and obsession. In 2008 he broadcast a one hour documentary on BBC2 about his own breakdown in 1986. In September 2013, Alastair published his latest novel, "My Name Is...", a story of a teenage girl’s descent into alcoholism.
He returned to the Labour Party, under Gordon Brown, in the 2010 election campaign, as an informal advisor to forming a coalition to keep Labour in power.
