Alastair Campbell

Alastair Campbell was appointed as Tony Blair's official spokesman in 1994.

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in Labour politics, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, charitable fundraising, politics and campaigns.

Alastair Campbell played a key role helping to create New Labour and return the Party to power, along with other key figures such as Peter Mandelson. After the 1997 election he became the Prime Minister's Chief Press Secretary and Official Spokesman, which entailed the co-ordination of Government communications and twice daily briefings of the press. He did this job for Labour's first term but after helping Mr Blair win a second landslide election victory, he became Director of Communications and Strategy. He did this until he resigned in September 2003. 

He returned to the Labour Party for six months prior to the 2005 general election and continues to advise the party informally. He is one of the party's most in-demand speakers at fundraising and motivational events, and was a founder of the GoFourth campaign aimed at focussing Party activists and the public on the need to understand the real choices facing Britain.  

In 2007, he published his first book on his time with Tony Blair, The Blair Years, extracts from his diaries from 1994 to 2003, which was an instant Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller. He published his first novel, All In The Mind, in November 2008, and his second novel, Maya, published in 2009, is an analysis of fame and obsession. In 2008 he broadcast a one hour documentary on BBC2 about his own breakdown in 1986. Both the film, Cracking Up, and All In The Mind, won considerable praise from mental health charities and campaign groups for helping to break down the taboo surrounding mental health. He has been fronting a mental health campaign aimed further at breaking down stigma. In 2010, he began publishing four volumes of his diaries, the first of The Alastair Campbell Diaries: Prelude to Power, followed by the second volume Power and the People, and the third Power and Responsibility is expected in July 2011.

He returned to Labour, under Gordon Brown, in the 2010 election campaign, as an informal advisor to forming a coalition to keep Labour in power.

Recently, in April 2011, he featured in the Channel 4 series of Jamie's Dream School, and tried to persuade 20 young people who have left school with little to show for the experience, to give education a second chance.

He speaks at corporate conferences on the media, politics, communications, strategy and change.