page_title: Alastair Campbell
hierarchical_section_title: Alastair Campbell
caption_attribution_description: Alastair Campbell, Journalist; Director of Communications and Strategy, Number 10 (1997-2003) at the Chatham House event E-Leadership: Political Communication in a Digital World, 17 October 2012
context_page_description: Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster and political aide. He worked as Tony Blair's spokesman and campaign director, then as Downing Street Press Secretary for Blair, who was then Labour Prime Minister. He then became Downing Street Director of Communications and spokesman for the Labour Party. He resigned in August 2003. He published his fifteenth book in 2018.
  He is the editor at large of The New European and chief interviewer for GQ magazine. He continues to act as a consultant strategist and as an ambassador for Time To Change and other mental health charities. He was an adviser to the People's Vote campaign, demanding a public vote on the final Brexit deal. Since his work for Blair, Campbell has continued to act as a freelance advisor to a number of governments and political parties, including the Prime Minister of Albania, whose Socialist Party coalition won a landslide at the 2013 Albanian election. In June 2017, Edi Rama was re-elected with an even larger mandate, and invited Campbell to continue to act as an adviser for his second term in office.
context_section_description: Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, broadcaster and political aide. He worked as Tony Blair's spokesman and campaign director (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary (1997–2000) for Blair, who was then Labour Prime Minister. He then became Downing Street Director of Communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003). He resigned in August 2003. He published his fifteenth book in 2018.
  He is the editor at large of The New European and chief interviewer for GQ magazine. He continues to act as a consultant strategist and as an ambassador for Time To Change and other mental health charities. He was an adviser to the People's Vote campaign, demanding a public vote on the final Brexit deal. Since his work for Blair, Campbell has continued to act as a freelance advisor to a number of governments and political parties, including the Prime Minister of Albania, whose Socialist Party coalition won a landslide at the 2013 Albanian election. In June 2017, Edi Rama was re-elected with an even larger mandate, and invited Campbell to continue to act as an adviser for his second term in office.
  On 26 May 2019, Campbell announced he had voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliamentary elections, and then two days later he announced that he had been informed by the Labour Party that he had been "automatically expelled", citing "voting for or otherwise supporting another party which were 'incompatible' with membership according to Party rules". Campbell stated that he intended to appeal against his expulsion, but in 19 July he wrote an open letter to Jeremy Corbyn, saying he no longer wished to rejoin the party. He voted Labour in the 2019 general election, having been part of a failed tactical voting campaign aimed at preventing Boris Johnson from winning a majority.
caption: Campbell speaking at Chatham House in 2012
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