A Review by Keith Smith

I am a sucker for diaries and biographies, especially political, whether it be the incredibly detailed day-by-day analysis of Robert Caro’s Life of Lyndon Johnson or the effervescence of  Alan Clark. So there was no way I could put down the first installment of Alastair Campbell’s Diaries whose 750 pages I read over the Bank Holiday weekend.

And what a marvellous read it was. Straight from the centre of things, a very intimate portrait of what it was like to live with the topmost echelons of New Labour before their first victory. And live with them Campbell did…his was a 24/7 job always on call, working as hard as anyone humanly could, and almost destroying his family in the process.

The diaries are forthright as you would expect, undubitably honest, full of colour, immediate and full of insight. The overall impression you are left with is of Tony Blair finding it absolutely impossible to deal with the lack of team spirit at the top and the inability of Mandelson, Brown, Prescott and Cook in particular to get on with each other. Prescott somewhat surprisingly emerges as a bit of a hero, bluff and blustering yes, but able to admit he was wrong, and always with the Party at heart. Of all the top figures he was the one with no hidden agendas, and he found it extremely frustrating that Blair was unable to sort out the machinations of the others. Although brave and single-minded in many respects Blair comes across as having few man-management skills, and very weak in trying to enforce some kind of order at the top. Why on earth he didn’t build up and use Prescott in his role as Deputy to hammer Brown et al into line is beyond me.

But the Diaries make it absolutely crystal clear that we are dealing with very fallible human beings, and their individual strengths and weaknesses are soon there for us to see. This had an enormous effect on Blair’s ability to enforce radical change, and influenced policy to a very surprising degree.

There is of course a tremendous cast of characters, and another who comes out with added lustre is David Blunkett. There is one unforgettable scene where Campbell is amazed at how easily Blunkett makes them both a cup of tea, performing every action as if fully-sighted, and then lays into him very brutally, catching him totally by surprise before gathering himself and apologising…’Christ, David it’s come to something if you and I end up arguing like this…..’ A touching picture which is completely indicative of the pressure that all the characters operate under, and sometimes find difficult to deal with, relieved at times by the easy way in which Blair and Campbell can relapse into humour as a way of dealing with the situation.

The book comes across as a very human account of what it was really like. It is easy to misjudge politicians and their helpers because so much of what they do is show and not substance. If you last the course in reading the Diaries you will find they act as a terrific corrective. I have every admiration for Alastair Campbell for dealing with the absolutely impossible, under pressure, and with latent Depression hanging over him, without actually going mad. No-one else was as feared at the time, and you begin to realise that that was as much for his sheer excellence at what he did as his famed temper.

I can’t wait for the next volume. In the meantime you could try one of his novels ‘All In The Mind’ or ‘Maya’ which provide extra clues as to what makes this man tick. I recommend them.