Book description
As Alastair Campbell said in the introduction to The Blair
Years, it was always his intention to publish the full version,
covering his time as spokesman and chief strategist to Tony Blair.
Prelude to Power is the first of four volumes, and covers the
early days of New Labour, culminating in their victory at the polls in 1997.
Volume 1 details the extraordinary tensions between Tony Blair and
Gordon Brown as they resolved the question as to which one should
stand to become Labour leader. It shows that right from the start,
relations at the top were prone to enormous strain, suspicions and
accusations of betrayal. Yet it also shows the political and personal
bonds that tied them together, and which made them one of the most
feared and respected electoral machines anywhere in the world.
A story of politics in the raw, Prelude to Power is above all
an intimate, detailed portrait of the people who have done so much to
shape modern history.
Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1957, the son
of a vet. After graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in
modern languages, his first chosen career was journalism, principally
with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour
Party, he asked Campbell to be his press secretary. He worked for Blair
- first in that capacity, then as official spokesman and director of
communications and strategy - from 1994 to 2003, since when he has been
mainly engaged in writing, public speaking, working for Leukaemia
Research, where he is chairman of fundraising, and continuing to advise
Blair, Gordon Brown and other leading Labour figures. His first novel,
All In The Mind
, and an accompanying award-winning TV documentary,
Cracking Up
, led to him being voted Mind Champion of the Year. A second novel,
Maya
, was published earlier this year. He lives in North London with his
partner of thirty years, Fiona Millar, and their children, Rory, 22,
Calum, 20, and Grace, 16. His interests include running, cycling,
playing the bagpipes and following the varying fortunes of Burnley
Football Club.
