TONY BLAIR wanted to quit as prime minister a year before the Iraq war,
according to Alastair Campbell, his former communications director.
He told Campbell that he was not going to seek a third term of office and
wanted to be free to act without worrying what the Labour party or public
thought of him for the remainder of his second term.
Campbell reveals the former prime minister’s plans in an exclusive interview
with The Sunday Times today on the eve of publication of his long awaited
diaries, The Blair Years.
His revelations, from the man who was at Blair’s side for a decade and dubbed
the real deputy prime minister, are the first to come from a figure at the
centre of power in Downing Street.
In the summer of 2002, a year after winning his second general election and
nine months before the start of the Iraq war, Blair decided to tell the
Labour party conference in the autumn that he would not fight a third
election.
He told Campbell: “Two terms is all you get in the modern world.”
Blair asked his inner circle – Campbell, his political adviser Sally Morgan,
and his chief of staff Jonathan Powell – whether the announcement would
liberate him to pursue sometimes unpopular reforms without focusing on the
next election.
“I wasn’t totally opposed, but I advised him that it would make him a lame
duck,” says Campbell.
There had been mounting tension over the potential military action in Iraq and
there have been claims that Blair and President George W Bush had already
decided in principle to invade Iraq, although this has always been denied by
Downing Street.
Blair was also under pressure over a variety of issues, some of them personal,
but others included wrangles over tuition fees and hospital reforms.
“We had been going through a lot of crap,” says Campbell.
As the diaries record, Blair’s departure plan was shelved under pressure of
events.
But the motive remained – “What you get as the book goes on is Tony caring
less about what people say about him,” Campbell says.
Campbell also reveals that Princess Diana held secret dinners with Blair and
his inner circle – including one at an “ordinary house” in east London – in
the mid1990s when he was leader of the opposition and inventing new Labour.
“It was just extraordinary to see her in this ordinary house. We had an
amazing dinner. She made me a cup of tea,” Campbell says.
The princess had earlier met Blair at an “Establishment” dinner party in
Belgravia, where she had made a beeline for Campbell when he arrived at the
end of the meal.
“I rang the bell and told them Mr Blair’s car was there. And the next thing is
she’s there, at the car. I’ve ribbed Tony about this ever since, because she
basically said she’d really like to meet Alastair Campbell.
“We’re standing there, in the middle of the road with cars whizzing by . . .
And she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be hilarious if there were a photographer around
now?’ She was so gorgeous.
“She said, ‘I mustn’t hold you back any longer,’ and there was I wanting to be
held back for a very long time.”
A few weeks later Diana accepted an invitation to the modest Hackney home of
Mag-gie Rae, a Labour activist and friend of the Blairs. This time Campbell
was a guest with his boss at the relaxed and informal dinner.
“I think she really felt she was part of the whole new Britain. I think she
thought Tony would support her causes, Aids and child poverty. We talked to
her about how she was seen and how she handled the media . . . She’d talk
about pictures all the time. She said to me, ‘They can take a lot away from
you, but they can’t take away your pictures.’ She said, ‘You can really
touch people in pictures.’
“I think she was interested in Tony and what we wanted to do.
He described her as very political, not in the party sense but instinctively.
“At the dinner she would physically withdraw from the conversation if she
thought it was getting too political. I honestly don’t know what would have
happened if she’d lived. And whether she would have had a role.”
A source close to Campbell said yesterday that Blair thought Diana could do “a
brilliant job as a kind of ambassador abroad for his vision of a modernised
Britain. The princess was intrigued by the idea. She liked the image of the
country Blair wanted to project and thought she could make a contribution.
She was very excited about it”.
The sources said Blair and Diana continued to meet secretly until her death in
August 1997, three months after new Labour
came to power. In his diary Campbell denies that he put the words “the
people’s princess” into Blair’s eulogy for her. The former prime minister
came up with it himself, he says.
Similarly the phrase “bog-standard comprehensive”, for which Campbell was
widely criticised by Labour traditionalists, was coined by Blair, he says.
The former Downing Street communications chief talks about the ideological
gulf between himself and Blair. They fell out over the decision to send
Blair’s sons to a selective school. Blair said he was not going to do “the
wrong thing for my kids for the sake of political correctness”.
On another occasion Blair told him: “I’m not as Labour as you.” Campbell
comments: “He truly wasn’t.”
The Iraq war overshadows the diaries. Campbell says he warned Blair about its
likely political repercussions. “I had doubts about the impact of military
action on Tony’s future. I said to him, ‘Look, if, when all this is done,
you are history before your time, is it really worth it?’ And he said, ‘It’s
always worth doing what you think is right. America has been attacked. It’s
important they don’t think they’re going to stand up to this on their own.’
“He knew from the word go that there would be some who would want to portray
him as Bush’s poodle. He was just prepared to live with that.”
He says Bush joked about his relationship with Blair when they visited
Wash-ington in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on America. “After the
first meeting before we flew home, Bush said to me, ‘There you go – you’ll
be able to paint a picture of how Tony flew in and pulled the crazed
unilateralist back from the brink’.”
As for Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, Blair was sympathetic during the
Monica Lewinsky scandal. “He said every leader’s got to be able to let go a
bit, and Bill – that was his way of letting go of it.”
Clinton was equally supportive of Blair, giving Campbell a pep talk. “I was a
bit down on Tony at the time – I was pissed off with everything probably –
Bill said I should mix very frank advice with an understanding that we’re
all human in the end. He was saying don’t beat up on him.”
Clinton also asked Campbell to consider whether he was “hurting” Blair through
his antagonistic relationship with the British news media, which Campbell
says he now regrets.
There was less empathy in Blair’s relationship with President Vladimir Putin
of Russia. A lunch in Moscow became particularly heated.
“There were tough exchanges. It was at the time of Iraq. Putin felt that
Britain was constantly taking the American side on different issues. There
was a point at which he was talking to Tony in a very personal, emotional
way, and I noted that it reminded me of Fiona [Millar, his girlfriend] when
she was having a go at me.”
Boris Yeltsin, Putin’s predecessor, was sober when he first met Blair,
but “there were other times when he might have had a few. There was a phone
call when Tony had no idea what he was saying at all”.
Campbell writes at length about the row with the BBC in 2003 over claims that
the government’s dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction [WMD] had
been “sexed up”, which led to the suicide of the former weapons inspector Dr
David Kelly.
When Campbell heard Kelly had gone missing: “I felt absolutely sick. I felt
like a juggernaut was coming my way. When they said a body had been found, I
came home just before the press started arriving and I wanted to quit there
and then. I knew what was coming. Then Tony phoned me . . . and I said,
‘Look Tony, I just want to go’.”
Campbell says Millar had long wanted him to leave, and his resignation had
already been agreed with Blair before the WMD row. It was put on hold for
three months, but he then left.
“Fiona didn’t want me to do the job in the first place. At times she felt I
was off, gallivanting round the world, being feted as a political superstar.
. . To me,I was working my arse off. I had to go, not just for the family, I
had to go politically as well.”
Good Blair is GONE. And soon, Bush will be GONE also.
Then the Western World, naive as ever needs to learn a lesson. Let's go back to the 90's when Clinton ADMITTEDLY passed up the chance to get Bin Laden out of fear of "violating international law".
It's a pleasure to see Gordon Brown respond to the latest terror...or no, Freedom Fighter attempt on the UK with "let's not call it a War on Terror" and "lets not offend certain people".
Naive Westerners have NO idea what they are up against, and the demographic war they are going to lose within their own countries. It's nice to see Imperial Europe be punished, but I hae to see America pay the price also. But perhaps that is needed. (If I'm wrong, ask yourselves why the Frenchies elected Sarko)
Blair and Bush did Iraq poorly. But at least they did what they thought was right WITHOUT regard to what idiots in the "UN" would say.
The other side is numerous and committed, MORESO than the avg young Western punk at the pub.
J knight, Anytown, USA
So what - Blair is yesterdays man now and yawn yawn to Campbells new book about his diaries !!!!!!!!
I am selling some books soon at a car boot sale as I eventually move house. If I was ever given Campbells diaries as a present, the book would go on the 'what to destroy' list !!!
Ian Payne, LICHFIELD, STAFFS
I have often wondered whether there could be even less of Mr. Campbell than appears on the surface.
Now I know
Peter Lloyd, BLACKER HILL, South Yorkshire, UK
Blair has been the best thing for the country.
Crabtree, Middlesex,
I have just past a lovely 10 days emptying my memory of all the horrors of the last, dreadful decade.
It seems to have worked.
Who on earth was Alastair Campbell?
No, on the other hand, don't tell me.
It might bring back the nightmare.
Gerard Mulholland, Paris, France
This article reminded me of the independent spirited speakers we have lost. Diana and Dr David Kelly ???
Monica, Blackburn, uk,
I think Blair was quite correct in supporting Bush in the Iraq war. That's what allies are for.
Renate Baramy, Ramat Hasharon, Israel
Forget Campbell's dodgy diary...........I'd suggest Universal Office Diary for some real insight into all our lives
Sally Dibden, Norwich,
Thanks Steve for telling us how it is in the UK ... rofl
Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,
Just think of all the wasted money, failed policies and political spin, (lies), that we would have been spared if he had.
Judy , Liverpool, england
This is a coincidence. So did I
Colin D. Gibbs, Dover, UK
Unfortunately,in the UK, Tony Blair is perceived as a lapdog for President Bush.
In fact this article shows that Blair developed the same thick skin GWB has. He did his job based on what he thought was the best course for the UK in the long run, not the short term. Exaclty what GWB is doing in the US.
This is a portrait of a strong leader who understood the importance of doing the job and not concerning himself about the public opinon polls.
As for Diana, he understood the enormity of her celebrity and how that celebrity could help people. Something, it seems, Diana herself wanted to do.
This only adds to my strong belief that Tony Blair will go down in history as one of the great British Prime Ministers.
Steve Mitchell, West Bloomfield , Michigan USA
I think it's great. A perfect picture of imperfect people being themselves for a change. We're all mortal in this life whether we believe it or not. It's wonderful when people can let their hair down with others and not worry about what pundits are going to make of it.
Jere Joiner, Divide, Colorado
The irony is that, with Iraq as with everything else, he did feel free to act without worrying what the public thought...
Chris Jackson, London,
Comments like these reinforce the problems facing Britain and how your public hates all your leaders – even the ones that stand up for the greater good of Britain and the world. It seems the terrorists are the only ones with a “cause†as your general public has lost the will and determination, it once had, to fight for what it believed in. Only a leader like Churchill can reclaim your country before the Islamic flag fly’s over Downing Street – unless of course you change. But can you before it’s too late? Is it too late already?
Chris Fleitman, Long Island, New York
This is interesting.
It confirms my view of Diana as a charming light-weight.
It also confirms the view of Blair as a man without good judgment.
Diana would have been a terrible choice as any kind of official representative.
And Blair should have listened to that inner voice telling him to quit.
I feel sure while there is some truth here, but there is also propaganda for Tony, effectively shifting the blame for a disaster to others.
Typical Blair that way.
I'll bet those unspecified troubles included his mad wife.
JOHN CHUCKMAN, Toronto, Canada
This is all fairly interesting in an uninteresting sort of way.
John Thornton, London, UK
So Blair wanted to go to war in Iraq because America had been attacked on 9/11? And the link between 9/11 and Iraq is?????
Simon Ralli, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Campbell is a thoroughly unpleasant man, one of several with whom Blair surrounded himself, (viz the future "lord" Mandy). Rude and a bully, and an unwarranted belief in his own self importance. Ironic to think that we should give any credence to anything he has written or said on the basis that it should have any relationship to what we call "the truth".
samtam, Bangkok, Thailand
We all know Campbell history WHY BELIEVE ANYTHING HE SAYS, HIM AND BLAIR ARE A PACKAGE, if you get one you get the other. Here is another guy that had to resign because of the way he handled the Kelly affair and now making money.
Civil servants cannot go to press after, so why can he.
l would never buy the book.
DAVID REARDON, nuneaton, uk
Can't tell much from this article. Have to read the real thing. I suspect we will see self justification and avoidance of the hard responsibility Cambell shares for the dead of Iraq.
Clerkenwellman, London, UK
These are T. S. Eliot's 'hollow men' (and women) talking to and about each other - as if any of them mattered a damn. What a waste of time and space.
Terry Daly, London, Great Britain
When former diplomats publish books like this the Labour politicians normally condemn then (eg SIr Christopher Mayer's book). But I suppose it is different when it is one of their mates.
R Barber, Newquay, UK
If I had to choose between my friend and my pension ...
Maggie, London,
If you believe this then I can sell you a intel report that states that martians are 45 mins from lauching a nuke attack.....
Oracle, Oxford, UK
The Great Rotator spinning the Poor Orator - so Blair could not quit, why? Because Brown was deemed incompetent perhaps? No doubt the decision to go to war was taken by Blair in isolation because in his view the House could not grasp the issues and with only 45 minutes to make the decision the House could not be convened in time..... Methinks the statements of Campbell are testicular in nature.
Blair may wish to take the credit for ridding our streets of Republican violence but he has replaced it with Muslim fundamentalist violence, I suppose he gets three points for a score draw.... God help the Middle East
Duncan Fisher, Wallington, Surrey
Campbell is a phenomenon, first time round - he manipulates history 'on the fly', to obtain a fairly smooth finish. He then gets the chance several years later to re-write bits covering the cracks that appear and need smoothing out. He would have been an excellent Plasterer if he had chosen that profession - Carpentry too, because whatever fits...will do.
Adam Jarvis, UK,
These are truly 'T. S. Eliot's 'hollow men' (and woman), talking to and about each other - as if any of them mattered a damn.. What a waste of time and space.
Terry Daly, London, Great Britain
This is tittle tattle from a man on the make:with freinds like this,you don't need enemies.
Edwina Rigby, Chorley Lancashire, England
Sir, I would not believe Alistair Campbell if he told me the sky was blue in the daytime and black at night.
John Blackley, Austin, TX, USA