A publishing sensation on its hardback publication in 2007, The Blair Years is the most revealing account of contemporary politics you'll ever read. Taken from Alastair Campbell’s daily diaries, it charts the rise of New Labour and the tumultuous years of Tony Blair’s leadership, providing the first important record of a remarkable decade.
Campbell is no stranger to controversy. As Blair's press secretary, strategist and trusted confidant, he was pivotal to New Labour and its three election victories, spending more waking hours alongside the Prime Minister than anyone. His diaries - at times brutally frank, often funny, always compelling - take the reader right to the heart of government.
The Blair Years covers the defining events of our time, from Labour’s new dawn to the war on terror, from the death of Diana to peace in Northern Ireland, from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, through to the Hutton Inquiry of 2003, the year Campbell resigned. But amid the big events are insights and observations that make this a remarkably human portrayal of some of the most powerful people in the world.
There has never been so riveting a book about life at the very top, nor a more human book about politics, told by a man who saw it all.
Updated with a new introduction for the paperback edition.
Click here to read extracts.
ABOUT ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. After graduating from Cambridge University 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 engaged mainly in writing, public speaking and working for Leukaemia Research, where he is chairman of fundraising. He has continued to act as an advisor to Mr Blair and the Labour Party, including during the 2005 election campaign. He lives in North London with his partner of 25 years, Fiona Millar. They have three children Rory, 19, Calum, 17 and Grace, 12. His interests include running, triathlon, bagpipes and Burnley Football Club.