Book description
Power & the People covers the first two years of the New
Labour government, beginning with their landslide victory at the polls
in 1997.
This second voume of Campbell's unexpurgated diaries details the
initial challenges faced by Labour as they come to power and settle
into running the country. It covers an astonishing array of events and
personalities, progress and setbacks, crises and scandals, as Blair
and his party make the transition from opposition to office.
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 in 2010, as was the first volume of his diaries,
Prelude to Power
. His interests include running, cycling, playing the bagpipes and
following the varying fortunes of Burnley Football Club.
