The second volume of Campbell's riveting diaries, rejoining New Labour as they come into power.
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.
A fascinating, candid account of recent history
*Financial Times*
Like the Bloomsbury Group of the Twenties, the New Labour clique is
churning out an apparently inexhaustible number of memoirs, diaries
and memorabilia. Alastair Campbell's diaries are by far the most
important record to have emerged. Nothing like them exists in
British political writing. They are a product of almost monastic
self-discipline. No matter how gruelling the circumstances,
Campbell found time to settle down and make a daily record of
events, which at the most frenetic times could extend to several
thousand words . . . The account of Blair's wise and agile handling
of the crisis that followed the death of Princess Diana is powerful
and authentic
*Telegraph*
Plunging into the second volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries is
like opening a Samuel Richardson novel. The tone is breathless and
excitable and the dramatic world of backstabbing, tittle-tattle and
palace intrigue is instantly captivating. Historians will scour the
book for valuable new information. Practitioners of media
management will regard it as a classic
*Spectator*
The real value of the 'complete' diaries lie in their total
immersion in the fierce urgency of the present tense . . . The
diaries capture what seemed to be important at the time, without
knowing where it would lead or what was coming next. So, huge
issues creep up without historical fanfare, as the author, at the
end of a long day, has no idea how important they will seem the
next day . . . Campbell is a great diarist, and precisely because
he is not a stylist. His is spare, Orwellian prose, compelling by
virtue of his position and his narrative grip - a favourite
Campbell word. Whatever you think of Blair and the Blair years,
this is what is was like at the time.
*Independent on Sunday*
It should be required reading for coalition MPs because, despite a
sometimes exhausting level of detail, there is still no better
minute-by-minute account of what life is like at No.10.
*Guardian*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
