Book description
The Blair Years is the most compelling and revealing account of
contemporary politics you will ever read. Taken from Alastair
Campbell's daily diaries, it charts the rise of New Labour and the
tumultuous years of Tony Blair's leadership, providing the first
important record of a remarkable decade in our national life.
Here are the defining events of our time, from Labour's new dawn to
the war on terror, from the death of Diana to negotiations for peace
in Northern Ireland, from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, through to the
Hutton Inquiry of 2003, the year Campbell resigned his position at No
10. But above all here is Tony Blair up close and personal, taking the
decisions that affected the lives of millions, under relentless and
often hostile pressure.
Often described as the second most powerful figure in Britain,
Alastair Campbell is no stranger to controversy. Feared and admired in
equal measure, hated by some, he was pivotal to the founding of New
Labour and the sensational election victory of 1997. As Blair's press
secretary, strategist and trusted confidant, Campbell spent more
waking hours alongside the Prime Minister than anyone. His diaires -
at times brutally frank, often funny, always compelling - take the
reader right to the heart of government.
The Blair Years is a story of politics in the raw, of
progress and setback, of reputations made and destroyed, under the
relentless scrutiny of a 24-hour media. Unflinchingly told, it covers
the crises and scandals, the rows and resignations, the ups and downs
of Britain's hothouse politics. But amid the big events are insights
and observations that make this a remarkably human portrayal of some
of the most powerful people in the world.
There has never been so riveting a book about life at the very top,
nor a more human book about politics, told by a man who saw it all.
Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of
a vet. After graduating from Cambridge University 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 engaged mainly in
writing, public speaking and working for Leukaemia Research, where he is
chairman of fundraising. He has continued to act as an advisor to Mr
Blair and the Labour Party, including during the 2005 election campaign.
He lives in North London with his partner of 26 years, Fiona Millar.
They have three children Rory, 20, Calum, 18, and Grace, 14. His
interests include running, triathlon, bagpipes and Burnley Football
Club. His novel
All in the Mind
is due to be published in November 2008.
