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Campbell quits

sleazenation

14:01 / 29.08.03

Not news exactly - it has been rumoured for month's he was planning on leavingin in the autumn but Alastair Campbel has quit

So, thoughts?

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:24 / 29.08.03

I think it's time for a little party. One less nasty little unelected fucker pulling strings... I just worry that he'll be back.

Tryphena Absent

15:21 / 29.08.03

Ner, that's Mandy's gig! Surely they couldn't have two of them, we'd have to start calling them the comeback twins!

Lurid Archive

15:24 / 29.08.03

except that he is getting replaced by another unelected person who is likely to be fairly similar.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

16:35 / 29.08.03

The question is whether this means there will be more.

We can only hope.

Jack The Bodiless

21:07 / 29.08.03

But he's Banzai's beshtesht mate. Beshtesht.

And any excuse for a little party is always greatly appreciated...

Lurid Archive

09:58 / 30.08.03

I don't want to spoil anyones mood but...Campbell did announce that he was going to leave a little while ago, so its a stretch to see this as a reaction to pressure from the Hutton enquiry or anything like that. Still, you might be happy tha he is going at all. Personally, I don't see that it will make much difference beyond an end to the bullying of some journalists. Should I be happy about that?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

10:02 / 30.08.03

He's been replaced by someone who looks like Sir Robert Winston.

Of course, is he going because he was going anyway and the Government is hoping that with him gone they won't have to kick out Geoff Hoon as well, who like Mandy and Byers is a friend of Tony? Or is he going because although it seems to have been proved he didn't do anything naughty with the dossier he then did err by using the Government machinery to fight what was essentially his battle with the BBC?

The 'damage' will depend on whether with him gone and the new bloke in New Labour will be able to make it seem as though they are off to a new Spin-free future (which I think they already tried either the first or second time that Mandy resigned) or whether, as with the numerous 'fresh starts' of Major's Government it'll be seen as 'here's the new spin doctor, just the same as the old spin doctor'.

Not Here Still

11:14 / 30.08.03

The spin is there is no spin.

While this may not be in reaction to the Hutton inquiry, I still think that, at best, he's blotted his copybook in the last few months and at worst he has ripped out all the pages, taken a dump in the copybook and then smeared it all over the walls of history.

He's been saying that Tony asked him to stay on to help with the Iraq war communications strategy. I wonder which one of them regrets that decision more now? If the Hutton inquiry didn't add to the reasons for him to go, it was a sour aftertaste left by the wine (or fruit juice, if we're being pedantic) at the leaving do.

Of course, Campbell leaving changes nothing. He was brought in, in part, to update the system of public relations in Government.

And while Campbell may be gone, the system rumbles on.

Jack The Bodiless

16:35 / 30.08.03

Well, they also appear to be removing a vast amount of the power from the position - David Hill won't have anything like the influence that Campbell had. In fact, I think today's Guardian said that it isn't even really the same position - they're just hiring Hill to be their most senior press-relations geezer, not their Grand Visier/Chief Legbreaker.

Jack The Bodiless

16:45 / 30.08.03

And I'm afraid I'm not sure that I believe that Campbell had intended to leave back that long ago. We'd have heard about it a lot if he'd announced it before now. Back in June, Blair asked him to step back a bit from the war with the BBC, and what he actually did was to step it up, including THAT unscheduled appearance on Channel Four News, practically demanding that they interview him so that he could lob another verbal handgrenade. Then there's the fact that his name has become so synonymous with spin, deceit, cover-ups and lies, from the Iraq dossier to the Kelly affair to the Hutton enquiry, that he cannot effectively do his job anymore - he has become the news. I don't believe for a second that he wanted to leave some time ago - I think he's agreed to leave in discussions over the last few days or weeks.

Jack The Bodiless

16:49 / 30.08.03

Lurid: except that he is getting replaced by another unelected person who is likely to be fairly similar.

He'd being replaced by David Hill, a man well respected throughout Westminster and the press as a straight-shooter, down to earth, and almost pathologically incapable of dissembling. Wonder how he and Bonzai will get along....

Grand Panjandrum of the Pointless

17:46 / 30.08.03

I don't think that the fact that Campbell's nominal successor is a 'straight shooter' will have a lot of effect on anything - appointing this guy is obviously just anti spin spin. Advising the Prime Minister is not something one has to have a certain job in order to do. Campbell will just shuffle off to some more-or-less obscure civil service post, and continue to be the eminence grise of New Labour, along with Mandy. Meanwhile the gullible are lead to believe things have changed because somebody else is giving the press briefing.

Lurid Archive

18:31 / 30.08.03

JtB: I'm pretty sure I read about Campbell intending to leave some time ago. I can't quite remember how long ago that was. I'd check through news archives but I don't suppose it is really that important.

Clearly, his high profile meant that he couldn't do the job properly and I also remember reading that he had had enough. Was he told to leave? Not in any way involving an ultimatum, I'd bet. Maybe Campbell and Blair came to a (non-euphemistic) understanding?

Also, while I do believe that David Hill will make some difference in style, I think that a lot will remain unchanged. I don't believe Campbell did very much without the approval of Blair. Blair is and always was in charge of the show. I don't see either the need for media management nor the obsessiveness of the man diminished by Campbell's exit.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

10:41 / 31.08.03

JtB: I second Lurid on having heard that Campbell was going to quit, but can't quite remember when and I can't check ATM, but I think it was sometime between his appearances at the FASC (and C4 news) and Dr. Kelly's suicide.

The Independent on Sunday is trying to suggest that this will be an opportunity for Mandy to return to the fold, but further in to the article they have to admit that this is all speculation and they don't really have any proof to back that up.

I personally found the article written by Iain Duncan-Smith more amusing as it tries to pretend that it's only since 1997 that the British public has been away of a culture of sleaze and dodgy dealings going on in the Houses of Parliament.

Lurid Archive

11:04 / 31.08.03

Andrew Rawnsley believes that Campbell has wanted to quit for a year. While I tend not to agree with his opinions, I think that Rawnsley probably knows more about internal New Labour politics than any other journalist.

Interesting point about Mandy, Flowers/Lady. I'm sure that will be temtping to Blair, despite the obvious problems with bringing him back.

Jack The Bodiless

14:13 / 31.08.03

Fair enough - I think the timing of the announcement is still interesting, especially considering that his own speech on his leaving the post advised that Blair begged him to stay around the time of the Iraq crisis. Looks like Tony changed his mind recently, hmmm?

sleazenation

14:18 / 31.08.03

I don't think it really indicates a change of mind on blairs side - after, as far as Blair is concerned the Iraq war is over.

Tryphena Absent

16:38 / 31.08.03

It's a very good time to leave- he's doing more media damage than good right now so he's officially disassociating himself but there's an article in one of the Sunday papers (might be the Observer) stating that he'll be back for the elections. It's a very clever way to play the system and you can be sure he'll do it with far more grace than Mandelson ever did.

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