James Rubin
Born	1960 (age 51–52) New York City
Nationality	US
Occupation	Journalist, political advisor, professor
Spouse	Christiane Amanpour
Children	Darius John Rubin

James Philip "Jamie" Rubin (born 1960 in New York City) is a former diplomat and journalist. He is currently an executive editor at Bloomberg News.^[1] Having served in the State Department during the administration of President Bill Clinton, he became a Sky News television news journalist and commentator. He is married to current CNN chief international correspondent and former anchor of ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Biography[link]

Education and early career[link]

Rubin graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science in 1982, and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) in 1984 from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. At Columbia, Rubin was a student of Zalmay Khalilzad, later U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Rubin also attended Boston University. Early in his career, he was the Assistant Director of Research at the Arms Control Association.^[2]

Clinton administration[link]

He went on to serve under President Clinton as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief Spokesman for the State Department from 1997 to May 2000. In the Clinton administration, he was considered Secretary Madeleine Albright's right-hand man.

Career in academia, politics and media[link]

Since leaving government, Rubin has been a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics; a partner at communications consultancy Brunswick and – in 2002 and 2003 – the host of PBS's Wide Angle series, a weekly international affairs program.

After serving as chief foreign policy spokesman for General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign, Rubin worked for Democratic nominee John Kerry, serving as a senior advisor for national security affairs.

In October 2005, Rubin became lead news anchor on World News Tonight on Sky News. In July 2006, Sky News restructured its schedule and cancelled World News Tonight.

He is currently an executive editor at Bloomberg News.^[3]

Bloomberg[link]

Rubin joined Bloomberg in January 2011 and oversees editorial issues of Bloomberg News in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.^[4] He also leads Bloomberg View, a Bloomberg op-ed project,^[5] with David Shipley.^[6]

When announced he would be joining Bloomberg, Rubin said:

“I look forward to joining Bloomberg at a time when rational thought and commentary in the media is needed now more than ever before.”^[7]

Support for Hillary Clinton candidacy[link]

Rubin was a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign team for the 2008 Democratic nomination. He caused some controversy when he described Lord Trimble the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of Northern Ireland as a "crankpot" for stating that Hillary Clinton's claim to have been "helpful" in the Northern Irish peace process was, "A wee bit silly".^[8] He also stated that Trimble's opinion was not important as he was 'a Protestant', and so 'traditionally conservative'.^[9]

In another interview, also on MSNBC, Rubin quoted the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, John Hume, as saying:

I am quite surprised that anyone would suggest that Hillary Clinton did not perform important work as first lady in the area of foreign policy. I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland. She visited Northern Ireland, met with very many people and gave decisive support to the peace process.

Later in the same interview, Rubin recounted a conversation he had with former US Senator and US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland George Mitchell:

“And as it happens a week ago I was at a dinner with George Mitchell and asked him about this. And he said pretty much the same thing. I don’t understand why people are questioning this? I had a lot of experience with Hillary doing things that were helpful to me.”[1]

"I also maintain my love for scootering around London", he added.

Jamie Rubin frequently brings quotes with him in the form of notes to reinforce his position during television interviews. During the 2008 campaign, he was a guest on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer in a foreign policy discussion with Susan Rice, who became Obama's nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations.^[10]

Recently, he wrote an article, published in the Washington Post, concerning the controversy which arose when it was perceived that Bush had criticized Obama during a foreign visit to Israel. Rubin accused John McCain, who defended Bush, of "hypocrisy" as McCain had records of supporting dialogue with the Hamas in the past.

Current activities[link]

Rubin is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University.

Personal life[link]

He is the son of publisher Harvey Rubin and his wife Judith.^[11] Many people^[who?] mistakenly think is he is the son of former Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration, Robert Rubin, who also has a son known as Jamie.

James' sister Elizabeth Rubin is a journalist and staff writer for The New York Times Magazine.

In 1998 Rubin, who at the time was spokesman for the US State Department, married Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN. Their son, Darius John Rubin, was born in 2000.

References[link]

1. ^ "David Shipley and James P. Rubin to Join Bloomberg News". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/david-shipley-and-james-p-rubin-to-join-bloomberg-news.html. 
2. ^ http://www.armscontrol.org
3. ^ "David Shipley and James P. Rubin to Join Bloomberg News". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/david-shipley-and-james-p-rubin-to-join-bloomberg-news.html. 
4. ^ "David Shipley and James P. Rubin to Join Bloomberg News". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/david-shipley-and-james-p-rubin-to-join-bloomberg-news.html. 
5. ^ Barbaro, Michael (2011-02-28). "Bloomberg Testing the World of Opinion". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/nyregion/01bloomberg.html?_r=1&ref=jamesprubin#. 
6. ^ "David Shipley and James P. Rubin to Join Bloomberg News". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/david-shipley-and-james-p-rubin-to-join-bloomberg-news.html. 
7. ^ "David Shipley and James P. Rubin to Join Bloomberg News". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/david-shipley-and-james-p-rubin-to-join-bloomberg-news.html. 
8. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2008/03/clinton_aide_slurs_david_trimb.html#commentsanchor
9. ^ . http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3555980.ece. 
10. ^ "CNN.com Video". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/04/27/campaign.foreign.policy.cnn. 
11. ^ "WEDDINGS; Jamie Rubin, Christiane Amanpour". The New York Times. 1998-08-09. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/09/style/weddings-jamie-rubin-christiane-amanpour.html. 

External links[link]

• Official PBS Wideangle website
• Clinton aide slurs David Trimble as a "crankpot" BBC
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23812866#23812866
• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23576056/
• http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/04/27/campaign.foreign.policy.cnn
• NYT, Jackie Calmes, Rubinomics Recalculated, November 23, 2008.

Hooman Majd, born 1957 in Tehran, is currently an Iranian-American journalist and author based in New York City, from where he makes frequent trips to Iran.

His maternal grandfather was the Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Assar (1885-1975), who had been born in a village in Iraq "to an Iraqi mother and an Iranian father". The Ayatollah, along with other contemporary ulema, overcame traditional opposition to serve as a professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran.^[1] His own father, whose origins were in the village of Ardakan, Iran, became representative of a "middle class" that was "pro-democratic and pro-modernization".^[2]

Raised in a family involved in the diplomatic service, Majd was raised from infancy abroad. He attended boarding school in England. He stayed in the US after the 1979 revolution and finished his college education in the US.

Majd worked in the entertainment industry, including Island Records and Polygram Records. He then worked as a journalist, contributing to GQ, The New York Times, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Salon, the New York Observer, and Interview, where he is also a contributing editor. He often writes on Iranian affairs, and travels regularly to Iran. Two of his books have been published:

• The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. The paradox of modern Iran (New York: Doubleday 2008).
• The Ayatollahs' Democracy. An Iranian challenge (New York: Norton 2010).

Majd has also served as an advisor and translator for the Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and translator for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on their trips to the United States and the United Nations, and has written about those experiences. |work=Huffington Post |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-11-03 }}</ref> the reforming, internationally oriented Seyed Mohammad Khatami (1997-2001, 2001-2005); and, the establishment nationalist and populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2009, 2009–present).

Evidently, following the controversial 2009 election in Iran, Majd continues to enjoy access to its politicians and officials, especially to former President Khatami. Admittedlly "emotionally invested in the politics of the country", a stated goal of the author is to shed light on the elusive "truth about Iran" that is fair for all of its people.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Iran portal
	Biography portal

• Hooman Majd on National Public Radio
• http://www.hoomanmajd.com/Hooman/Home_khanh.html

David Albright, M.S., is the founder of the non-governmental Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), its current president, and author of several books on proliferation of atomic weapons. Albright holds a Master of Science in physics from Indiana University and a M.Sc. in mathematics from Wright State University. He has taught physics at George Mason University in Virginia.

From 1990 to 2001, Albright was a member of the Colorado State Health Advisory Panel, participating in its assessment of the toxicological and radiological effects on the population near the Rocky Flats atomic weapons production site.

1992-97, David Albright was associated with the International Atomic Energy Agency's Action Team. In June 1996, he was invited to be the first non-governmental inspector of Iraq's nuclear program and questioned Iraqi officials about that country's uranium enrichment program.

In 2001 Albright prepared an analysis, for CNN, of documents found in an abandoned Al Qaeda safe house in Kabul believed to have been used by Abu Khabbab, who they described as "Osama bin Laden's top chemical and biological weapons commander."^[1] Albright, confirmed the abandoned documents included plans for a nuclear bomb, and extensive training notes on the handling of radiological material.

David Albright made a number of comments during the lead up to and breakout of the 2003 Iraq War, agruing that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear, biological and chemcial weapons programs. In an interview with PBS several months before the start of the Iraq War he stated:^[2]

I personally believe there's plenty of evidence for biological and chemical, and there's sufficient evidence to believe that there's a reconstituted nuclear weapons program.

—David Albright, PBS Interview Oct 1, 2002

In response to Iraqi aluminum tubes, Albright said it was far from clear that the tubes were intended for a uranium centrifuge.^[3] "If the U.S. government puts out bad information it runs a risk of undermining the good information it possesses. In this case, I fear that the information was put out there for a short-term political goal: to convince people that Saddam Hussein is close to acquiring nuclear weapons."^[4]

In 2006 David Albright received the prestigious Joseph A. Burton Forum Award from the American Physical Society, a professional society of American physicists. He was cited “For his tireless and productive efforts to slow the transfer of nuclear weapons technology. He brings a unique combination of deep understanding, objectivity, and effectiveness to this vexed area.”[1]

A report by David Albright was quoted in a June 15, 2008 article in the Washington Post.^[5] He stated in a leaked copy of a draft report (to be released in full the week of June 15, 2008) that a nuclear weapons smuggling ring—which sold bomb-related parts to Libya, North Korea, and Iran—possessed plans to an advanced nuclear device, compact enough to fit on a ballistic missile used by Iran and a dozen other developing countries. It was unknown if these plans had been shared with any regime; and the plans had recently been destroyed.^[6]

Albright was a guest on The Colbert Report February 2011 ^[7]and spoke about Stuxnet.

References[link]

Sources[link]

• http://www.isis-online.org/about/staff/dalbright.html

See also[link]

• South Africa and weapons of mass destruction

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Ari Fleischer
Ari Fleischer conducting a White House press conference
24th White House Press Secretary
In office January 20, 2001 – July 15, 2003
Preceded by	Jake Siewert
Succeeded by	Scott McClellan
Personal details
Born	(1960-10-13) October 13, 1960 (age 51) Pound Ridge, New York United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Davis
Children	2
Residence	Washington, D.C.
Religion	Judaism [1]
Website	Fleischer Sports

Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) is a former White House Press Secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003. Fleischer was born in Pound Ridge, New York; his parents were Jewish, his mother a Hungarian immigrant who lost much of her family in the Holocaust.^[1] He graduated from Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York in 1978, and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1982. Today, he works as a media consultant for the NFL,^[2] Bowl Championship Series, and other various sports organizations and players through his company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications.^[3] He is also an international media consultant to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.^[4][5] He helped Mark McGwire in his media strategy for his admission of steroid usage. He was also briefly hired by Tiger Woods to help him with a strategy to make his entrance back on the PGA Tour, but was not retained after news stories surfaced promoting his representation of Woods.

Congressional staffer[link]

Upon his graduation from Middlebury College, Fleischer worked as press secretary for Jon Fossel, a Republican candidate for a New York congressional seat. Later Fleischer worked as press secretary for Congressmen Norman Lent. From 1985 to 1988 he was the field-director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He went back to being a press secretary in 1988, working for Congressman Joseph DioGuardi for a short time.^{[citation needed]}

Fleischer served as Senator Pete Domenici's press secretary from 1989 to 1994. He then served as spokesman for the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee for five years. He worked as deputy communications director for George H. W. Bush's 1992 reelection campaign.^{[citation needed]}

White House Press Secretary[link]

Although Fleischer served as communications director for Elizabeth Dole during her presidential run in the 2000 election campaign, he joined George W. Bush's presidential campaign after Mrs. Dole dropped out of the race. When Mr. Bush became the President in 2001, he tapped Fleischer to become the first press secretary of his administration.

Fleischer is credited with having been the first to introduce the phrase "homicide bombing" to describe what has also been called suicide bombing, in April 2002, to emphasize the terrorist connotations of the tactic:

On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector. He was replaced by deputy press secretary Scott McClellan on July 15, 2003.

Alleged role in Plame affair[link]

Fleischer became an important figure in the CIA leak case; he testified that Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff, told him that Valerie Plame was a covert agent weeks before Libby had claimed to have been informed of Plame's status by a reporter.

On July 7, 2003, at The James S. Brady Briefing Room, Fleischer was asked about Joseph Wilson, a former US ambassador who had recently written a New York Times editorial criticizing the intelligence information the Bush administration had relied upon to make its case for invading the nation of Iraq. Specifically, Fleischer was asked to respond to Mr. Wilson's assertion that he had been sent to Niger to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein had sought yellowcake uranium and found no evidence that such events had ever occurred.

Fleischer testified in open court on January 29, 2007, that Libby told him on July 7, 2003, at lunch, about Ms. Plame, who is Mr. Wilson's wife. MSNBC correspondent David Shuster summarized Fleisher's testimony on Hardball with Chris Matthews:

Fleischer also testified to the fact that Dan Bartlett, the president's communications adviser, told him the same thing on Air Force One days later on the way to Niger with Pres. Bush. Fleischer had then relayed this information to Time correspondent John Dickerson and NBC's David Gregory in Uganda during the African trip.^[8][9]

Dickerson denied that such a conversation ever took place.^[10] Ari Fleischer gave his final 'Press Briefing' on July 14, 2003.

On July 18, 2005, Bloomberg reported that in his sworn testimony before the grand jury investigating the leak, Fleischer denied having seen a memo circulating in Air Force One on July 7, 2003, which named Ms. Plame in connection to Mr. Wilson's mission and which identified her as a 'CIA' covert agent. However, a former Bush Administration official also on the plane testified to having seen Fleischer perusing the document.^[11][12]

Columnist Robert Novak, who published Ms. Plame's name on July 14, 2003, made a call to Fleischer on July 7, 2003, before Fleischer's trip to Africa with Pres. Bush. It is unclear whether Fleischer returned Novak's call.^[11] However, Fleischer is mentioned in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of Libby. The indictment states that Libby told Fleischer (referred to as the White House press secretary in the indictment) that Ms. Plame worked for the 'CIA' and that this fact was not well known.

After receiving an immunity agreement, Fleischer testified that he had revealed Ms. Plame's identity to reporters after learning it from Libby.^[9] However, in the end it was discovered that Richard Armitage first leaked Ms. Plame's identity, not Mr. Libby or Mr. Cheney.

Alleged role in Komen Foundation/Planned Parenthood controversy[link]

On February 3, 2012, the leftist blog Think Progress reported that Fleischer was secretly involved in the Komen Foundation’s strategy regarding Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the position of “Senior Vice President for Communications and External Relations” at Komen last December. According to a source with first-hand knowledge, Fleischer drilled prospective candidates during their interviews on how they would handle the controversy about Komen’s relationship with Planned Parenthood.

Fleischer’s relationship with Komen and the Planned Parenthood controversy was previously undisclosed. He confirmed to ThinkProgress his recent role in filling a key communication position at Komen. Fleischer stressed, however, another communications firm (Ogilvy PR) was retained by Komen to deal with crisis communications and he had not been involved.

In November, Komen advertised for a top level communications position in Roll Call. Promising applicants received a call from Fleischer. The advertisement is no longer posted on the Roll Call website, but a portion is accessible via Google.

According to a source, during at least one interview, Planned Parenthood was a major topic of conversation. Fleischer indicated that he had discussed the Planned Parenthood issue with Komen’s CEO, Nancy Brinker, and that she was at her wits end about how to proceed. Fleischer described himself as a longtime friend of Brinker. Fleischer confirmed to ThinkProgress that he would receive a fee from Komen when the search was complete. Fleischer did not specify the amount of his fee but said it would be “substantially below the normal placement fee charged by executive search companies” because “they’re a charity I believe in.”

Fleischer’s high-level involvement with Komen further complicates its image as an apolitical cancer charity. In his book, Taking Heat, Fleischer criticized Planned Parenthood as a partisan, ideological organization that receives undeserved positive coverage in the press. In 2001, Fleischer said that the Clinton administration verged too far to the left on family planning efforts because “if Planned Parenthood wanted it, the previous administration favored it.”

Personal life[link]

Fleischer married Rebecca Davis, an employee in the Office of Management and Budget, in November, 2002. They live in New York with their two children. Fleischer's brother, Michael, worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.

After leaving the White House, Fleischer formed his own consulting firm, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications, offering media and crisis management

He is on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition.^[13]

He was portrayed by Rob Corddry in Oliver Stone's W., a biographical movie about George W. Bush.

He was hired by the Green Bay Packers as a consultant in August 2008.

He was hired by Tiger Woods to facilitate Woods' reentry to the PGA Tour, but abruptly dropped by Woods following public revelation of Fleischer's role.

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• NewsHour interview from PBS
• CNN article on Fleischer's resignation
• Transcripts of all White House press briefings since 2001
• Ari Fleischer Sports Communications
• Appearances on C-SPAN

v t e White House Press Secretaries Akerson Joslin Early Daniels Ross Early Short Tubby Hagerty Salinger Reedy Moyers Christian Ziegler terHorst Nessen Powell Brady Speakes Fitzwater Myers McCurry Lockhart Siewert Fleischer McClellan Snow Perino Gibbs Carney

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell, 2003
Director of Communications and Strategy
In office 15 July 2000 – 29 August 2003
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Downing Street Press Secretary
In office 2 May 1997 – 15 July 2000
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Personal details
Born	Alastair John Campbell (1957-05-25) 25 May 1957 (age 55) Yorkshire, England, UK
Political party	Labour
Domestic partner	Fiona Millar[citation needed]
Children	3[citation needed]
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist, author, broadcaster
Religion	None (atheist)[1]
Signature	Alastair Campbell's signature

Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003. Campbell describes himself as a "Communicator, Writer and Strategist"^[2] on his website, while others have described him as Labour's "unelected, but ... hardly underscrutinised" spin doctor.^[3]

Early and personal life[link]

Alastair John Campbell was born on 25 May 1957 in Yorkshire, son of a Scottish veterinary surgeon, Donald Campbell, and his wife Elizabeth.^[4] Campbell's parents had moved to Keighley when his father became a partner in a local veterinary practice. Donald was a Gaelic-speaker from the island of Tiree; his wife was from Ayrshire.^[5] Campbell has two elder brothers, Donald and Graeme, and a younger sister, Elizabeth. Even though Alastair was born in Yorkshire, he would go over the county border to Lancashire to watch Burnley Football Club with his father, Donald.^[6]

He attended Bradford Grammar School for a short period of time, followed by City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,^[4] where he studied modern languages, French and German, for which he received an upper second (2:1). He later claimed he wrote essays based solely on works of literary criticism, often rather than having read the works themselves. He spent a year in the south of France as part of his degree course.

Campbell became interested in journalism. His first published work was Inter-City Ditties, his winning entry to a readers' competition in the pornographic magazine Forum. This led to a lengthy stint writing pieces for the magazine with such titles as Busking with Bagpipes and The Riviera Gigolo, written in a style calculated to lead readers at the time to believe they were descriptions of his own sexual exploits.^[7]

Campbell became a sports reporter on the Tavistock Times. His first significant contribution to the news pages was coverage of the Penlee lifeboat disaster. As a trainee on the Plymouth-based Sunday Independent, then owned by Mirror Group Newspapers, he met his partner Fiona Millar, with whom he has three children, two sons (born November 1987 and July 1989) and a daughter (born May 1993). Campbell is an atheist.^[8]

National newspapers[link]

Campbell moved to the London office of the Daily Mirror in 1982, England's sole remaining big-circulation supporter of the Labour Party. He became a political correspondent before moving to The Today newspaper in 1986, a full-colour tabloid newspaper which was now trying to turn leftward where he worked as a news editor. His rapid rise and its accompanying stress led to alcohol abuse.^[9]

Alcoholism and depression[link]

Campbell was admitted to hospital in 1986 when he travelled to Scotland to cover Neil Kinnock's visit to Glasgow. He was detained by the police for his own safety after being observed behaving oddly. Police contacted his partner and following her calls to friends in Scotland the police let a family friend take Campbell to Ross Hall Hospital, a private BMI hospital in Glasgow where she and her father visited him. Over the next five days as an inpatient he was given medication to calm him, and he realised that he had an alcohol problem after seeing the psychiatrist. Campbell said that from that day onwards he counted each one that he did not drink alcohol, and did not stop counting until he had reached thousands.^[9]

Campbell returned to England, preferring to stay with friends near Cheltenham, rather than return to London (and his partner) where he did not feel safe. His condition continued with a phase of depression^[10], and he was reluctant to seek further medical help. He eventually cooperated with treatment from his family doctor.^[9]

Return to work[link]

His first son was born in 1987; and when Campbell returned to the Daily Mirror, he had to restart at a low grade again and work nightshifts, but rebuilt his career and became political editor.^[9]

He was a close advisor of Neil Kinnock, going on holiday with the Kinnocks, and worked closely with Robert Maxwell. Campbell's loyalty to Maxwell was demonstrated when he punched The Guardian journalist Michael White after White joked about "Captain Bob, Bob, Bob...bobbing" in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after Maxwell's drowning in 1991.^[11] Campbell later put this down to stress at the thought of himself and others losing their job following the demise of the Daily Mirror proprietor.^[12][13]

After leaving the Mirror in 1994, Campbell became political editor of Today. He was working there when John Smith died in 1994. He was a well-known face and helped to interview the three candidates for the new Labour Party leader; it was later revealed he had already formed links with Tony Blair.

Politics and government[link]

Shortly after Blair won and became leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Campbell left Today to become his spokesman. Having recovered and become teetotal, he told Blair about his illness, which Blair did not see as a problem.^[14] He played an important role in the run-up to the 1997 general election, working with Peter Mandelson to co-ordinate Labour's campaign. He also worked hard to win support from the national media for the Labour Party, particularly from the newspapers who for many years had been anti-Labour. By March 1997, many of the leading newspapers – including The Sun, once a staunch Thatcherite paper – had declared their support for Labour.^[15]

He moved into government when Labour won the general election in May 1997 and was the Prime Minister's chief press secretary until 2000. He then moved to the post of Prime Minister's Director of Communications which gave him a strategic role in overseeing government communications. He was sponsored by the US President George W. Bush to complete the London marathon in aid of a cancer charity, Leukaemia Research.

Iraq War[link]

In the runup to the Iraq War Campbell was involved in the preparation and release of the "September Dossier" in September 2002 and the "Iraq Dossier" in February 2003. These documents argued the case for concern over possible weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. Both have been criticized as overstating or distorting the actual intelligence findings. Subsequent investigation revealed that the September Dossier had been altered, on Campbell's orders, to be consistent with a speech given by George W. Bush and statements by other United States officials. On 9 September 2002, Campbell sent a memo to John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, in which Campbell directed that the British dossier be "one that complements rather than conflicts with" the U.S. claims.^[16]

Later in 2003, commenting on WMDs in Iraq he said, "Come on, you don't seriously think we won't find anything?".^[17] He resigned in August 2003 during the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly. (Kelly's view that the government grossly exaggerated the Iraqi threat in the notorious 'dodgy dossier', told to BBC journalists Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts, had led to Campbell battling with the BBC. "The government was determined to use Dr Kelly in its battle against the BBC, and he and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon had taken the decision, in Campbell's words, 'to fuck Gilligan'. The counsel for the Kelly family said to Lord Hutton: 'The family invite the inquiry to find that the government made a deliberate decision to use Dr Kelly as a pawn as part of its strategy in its battle with the BBC.')^[18]

Campbell gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 12 January 2011.^[19]

Later career[link]

Campbell with cricketers Ian Botham, Bob Willis and David Gower, with politician James Erskine.

Campbell worked again for the Labour Party in the run-up to the May 2005 general election. Sir Clive Woodward recruited Campbell to manage relations with the press for the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand in 2005. Campbell wrote a column for The Times during the tour.

Throughout his time in Downing Street, Campbell kept a diary which reportedly totalled some two million words. Selected extracts, titled The Blair Years, were published on 9 July 2007. Subsequent press coverage of the book's release included coverage of what Campbell had chosen to leave out, particularly in respect of the relationship between Blair and his Chancellor and successor, Gordon Brown. Campbell expressed an intention to one day publish the diaries in fuller form, and indicated in the introduction to the book that he did not wish to make matters harder for Brown in his new role as Prime Minister, or to damage the Labour Party.

Campbell has his own website and blog, as well as several pages on social networking websites.^[20] He uses these platforms to discuss British politics and other topics close to his heart. So far, Campbell's commentaries and views have garnered media attention and generated ample interest among various on-line communities. In October 2008, he broadcast the personal story of his mental illness in a television documentary partly to reduce the stigma of that illness.^[9] He has written a novel on the subject entitled All in the Mind.

Campbell appeared as a mentor in the BBC Two series The Speaker in April 2009 offering his advice on persuasive speaking.^[21] He is a lifelong supporter of Burnley Football Club and writes about their exploits in a column called "Turf Moor Diaries" for the FanHouse UK football blog .^[22] He is regularly involved in many different events with Burnley Football Club.^[23]

Campbell made his first appearance on the BBC One political discussion programme Question Time on 27 May 2010. At the opening of the edition, presenter David Dimbleby said that Downing Street would not allow a front bench member of the government to appear on the show unless Campbell was dropped. The BBC refused to do this. The Government later accused the BBC of behaving improperly for allowing Campbell to appear as a more in-depth version of his diaries was due to be published the following week, and a Downing Street spokesman told The Guardian, "Campbell seemed to be on because he's flogging a book next week, so the BBC haven't behaved entirely properly here."^[24] Campbell said that he had waited until Labour were in opposition before appearing on the show and that the date was a coincidence as it was the only time he was free. He suggested the discord was part of a Conservative anti-BBC agenda.^[24] The Minister who had been scheduled to appear was the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws who Campbell produced a picture of during the programme. Three days later Laws resigned his post following revelations about possible irregularities in his expenses claims in The Telegraph the day before.

Campbell appeared on BBC's Top Gear in July 2010 and set a time of 1:47 around the Top Gear Test Track in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment, setting the second fastest time around the track at that time.

He also took part in the 2011 Channel Four television series Jamie's Dream School.

In June 2012 he was guest presenter of Have I Got News For You.

In 2011, Campbell contacted the Metropolitan Police with suspicions that his phone was hacked by the News of the World in 2003.^[25]

Campbell presented and narrated the 20 February 2012 edition of Panorama, which was entitled Britain's Hidden Alcoholics. In the programme, Campbell stated that he is an alcoholic, although he has not drunk alcohol since 1986.

Stage and screen portrayals[link]

A regular feature of Bremner, Bird and Fortune is a satirical version of Campbell's discussions with Tony Blair, in which Rory Bremner plays Blair and Andrew Dunn plays Campbell. In 2005, Campbell was played by Jonathan Cake in the Channel 4 television film The Government Inspector, based on the David Kelly Case. The following year, he was portrayed by Mark Bazeley in the Stephen Frears film The Queen - a role reprised by Bazeley in 2010 follow-up The Special Relationship, also written by Peter Morgan but this time directed by Richard Loncraine. Alex Jennings, who portrayed Prince Charles in The Queen, portrayed Campbell in the television drama A Very Social Secretary.^[26] In an episode of Dead Ringers his close relationship with Tony Blair is satirized in an imaginary scenario where Tony is divorcing his wife. He is asked if it will be difficult to sack the person he most loves and cherishes replying "I'm not sacking Alastair Campbell"

It is also hinted that the character of Malcolm Tucker from the BBC political satire comedy The Thick of It is loosely based on Campbell. Tucker is famous for his short fuse and use of very strong language. Campbell himself seems to have a few qualms about being associated with the character. In an interview with Mark Kermode on BBC2's The Culture Show, he denied that the two are similar in any relevant way, but admitted to his liberal use of profanities in the workplace.^[27]

Selected works[link]

• The Blair Years (2007). Random House. ISBN 0-09-951475-3^[28][29][30]
• All in the Mind (2008). Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-192578-9^[31]
• Maya (2010). Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-193087-1^[32]

References[link]