Diaries Volume One

Alastair Campbell

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Paperback

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About the book

As Alastair Campbell said in the introduction to The Blair Years, it was always his intention to publish the full version, covering his time as spokesman and chief strategist to Tony Blair. Prelude to Power is the first of four volumes, and covers the early days of New Labour, culminating in their victory at the polls in 1997.

Volume 1 details the extraordinary tensions between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as they resolved the question as to which one should stand to become Labour leader. It shows that right from the start, relations at the top were prone to enormous strain, suspicions and accusations of betrayal. Yet it also shows the political and personal bonds that tied them together, and which made them one of the most feared and respected electoral machines anywhere in the world.

A story of politics in the raw, Prelude to Power is above all an intimate, detailed portrait of the people who have done so much to shape modern history.

About the Author

Alastair Campbell

Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1957. A graduate of Cambridge University, his first career was in journalism. He was asked by Tony Blair to be his press secretary when Blair became leader of the Labour Party. He worked for Blair—first in that capacity, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy—from 1994 to 2003. Since his resignation, he has been engaged mainly in writing, public speaking and working for Leukaemia Research, where he is chairman of fund-raising. He has continued to act as an adviser to Blair and the Labour Party, including during the 2005 election campaign. Campbell lives in London.Alastair Campbell is represented by the Knopf Speakers Bureau (http://www.knopfspeakersbureau.com).