The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq - The Alastair Campbell Diaries (31 page)

The public services speech was all in the wrong place, thanks to the dunderheaded unions taking the whole speech as an attack on them. Then John Monks [TUC general secretary] was wound up by the unions and the media and he was leading the news with comments re TB making ‘juvenile remarks’. DB did pretty well whacking back but our overall message was a bit confused. TB insisted we had to hold absolutely firm, that we were doing the right things for the long term and we would hold firm. He seemed a bit down, worried we could not actually get our own people properly to understand what was needed.

I raised MMR with TB. We both felt it was yet another case of the media stirring to try to make the story even worse, because that was then an even better story. The problem was if this did become a huge public health issue, there was a real danger he would get the blame and it would stick and inflict real damage. CB was adamant she wanted to take the
Independent
to the PCC for the Leo-had-the-jab story and I was adamant that was crazy, even though she had a case. TB had been telling all sorts of people he’d had the jab and was probably in some ways, maybe one removed, the source and he seemed relieved it was out there. I felt we were going to need a really strong MMR campaign to get over the benefits and the risks if people did not have it.

I met Tessa [Jowell] who wanted a bit of advice on her image/profile. Her great strength was her niceness and her enthusiasm but I said sometimes the Florence Nightingale touch could grate a bit. She needed to be more wedded to policy issues linked into real people. I bumped into GB as I took her out. Another monosyllabic grunt. Peter M called from South Africa, denied he had got up the Hammond [Inquiry reopening] story, said on the contrary he had not wanted it to happen. He could tell I was unconvinced. He said originally he had pressed for it then TB said he didn’t think that would help him. Peter then agreed but by then TB had changed his mind and RW told Peter the new inquiry was going ahead. He sounded OK but he was clearly very fed up with his lot. Condi Rice slapped down Jack over his remarks that Bush’s axis of evil speech was about electoral US politics. Not a great day, but I had a long chat with Natascha McElhone which cheered me up.

TB’s ‘wreckers’ [speech] was still running big and bad. The GMB and UNISON [unions] took out full-page ads attacking us. There was now no sense anywhere of it having been about the Tories, but there was also a feeling that it was just a phoney row. I was really down again, struggling to get out of bed, struggling to get through the front door, feeling demotivated all day. TB later asked me if I was fed up. Very, I said. Why? A mix of things – grind, GB making life more difficult than it should be, being expected to do too much, including work others should be doing, the media, feeling that so far as my particular skills were concerned I had done my bit and we were now in a different phase requiring different skills. ‘You’re not thinking of leaving are you?’ he asked and I said maybe I was. He said he felt I had a massive contribution to make and also that I would miss it more than I thought. Nothing else will ever replace this professionally,
he said. But the grind gets me down. The media were a screaming pain in the backside and I had such contempt for most of them, I couldn’t hide it and maybe he was damaged by that.

He said you are not just a media person, you do far more for me than that, don’t worry about them, let the others take care of them. He said he had a lot to do and he couldn’t do it without a strong team to help him pull the horses. The GB problem was graphically on display again this morning. He did
The Times
on his Commonwealth Education Fund [overseas education advocacy project], which was fine in that it was on two of TB’s areas – education and Africa – but GB did it without any consultation and without any reference to TB or the broader Africa agenda at all. I told TB that in both the
Today
and
GMTV
interviews, GB did not even mention him and he seemed taken aback. He said the one thing capable of destabilising me is the lurking presence waiting to do me down when the opportunity arises. The truth was if these two worked together, this government would be fifteen per cent better than it is. That was a margin worth worrying about.

What was clear from any reading of the media was that GB’s people poured poison vs TB the whole time – how they were the real radicals, how TB didn’t care about the real issues in the way GB did, how GB was the substance and TB the style. There was clearly a plan to get him up on development issues to ensure TB did not get too much out of Africa. If they worked together on this, they would be unstoppable. But it wasn’t happening. MMR was running big. As for 10,000 extra nurses – no fucking coverage at all. Milburn was ballistic about it. I went with TB to a young people’s event at Westminster Hall organised by the Lib Dems. TB was OK but a bit passionless. [Liberal Democrat leader Charles] Kennedy was predictable and his speech a bit dull. IDS surprised a lot of them by being pretty good and was well received.

The top story politically was the Chinook inquiry [
see January 30
] on which we just had to hold firm, though the Lords was coming out pretty hard against us. It all looked nakedly political and maybe people saw that. I had lunch at Wiltons with [Field Marshal Lord] Peter Inge and [Air Marshal Sir] Erik Bennett [adviser to the Sultan of Oman] which was good fun. Both were lively and engaging, and pretty gossipy. [Nicholas] Soames was at the next table and when he got up to leave I made a point of saying, very loudly, ‘Can you get the car round, I’ll be there in five minutes.’ Inge [a former CDS] said he hoped I was being nice to Boyce. I said I was. He said I should tell him we valued him because he tended to get down on himself.
Both he and Bennett felt the US would become a real problem for us and that TB was really the only person who could hold things together. They seemed to feel he had real influence and that he had to use it.

The
Sun
yesterday did a front-page campaign pitch on giving everyone the choice of three [individualised MMR] jabs not one, and today led on a story that TB was wobbling, and had ordered a review of the costs of three in one. Because [David] Yelland had been in yesterday to see FM/SM and briefly seen TB the buzz went round that it came directly from us. We denied it last night but then the Tories jumped on the bandwagon and by this morning it was leading the news. The media were really whipping this into a frenzy but it was one with potentially serious consequences now, and the Tories ought to get hammered, but they wouldn’t be, at least not the way we would have been in Opposition for something of this kind. We had some good facts to get over, like there were ninety countries using the vaccine, like the fact that in the US you had to have it to be able to go to local schools. I warned Yelland we were going to dump hard on their story. Both the
Sun
and the
Express
agreed to take rebuttal articles on it.

Dacre said he would only do so if it was TB or CB writing re Leo. I wrote telling him I thought their coverage on MMR was irresponsible and dishonest. I bumped into Piers [Morgan] coming out of a meeting with GB. We said hello and later he called, said he wanted to be more supportive re MMR, but we ended up having another argument about the nature of their war coverage. TB left for the airport [for Africa], called from the car to go over how much media he should do on the way and once he got there. He kicked off by dropping another hint Leo had had the jab. I left early, collected the boys and off to Watford for a fantastic match, which we won in the last minute, Marlon [Beresford, Burnley goalkeeper] having saved a penalty at 1–0. It was one of those wonderful matches that makes all the crap ones seem worthwhile.

I felt a bit odd, both good and bad, that I wasn’t on the Africa trip. Good because hopefully it would show to Fiona I was serious about trying to do things differently; also because I could have a bit of time to sort some of the personnel issues; bad because I would be worrying whether things were being handled properly, and whether in fact I ought to be there. TB was getting good if low-key coverage for the
speech [to the joint national assembly] in Nigeria and it was definitely the right thing to do to stick to our guns and go. JP was standing in for TB at Cabinet, and as when he did PMQs, the massive differences came over – TB who would want the minimum of fuss and preparation pre Cabinet, JP who wanted to over-prepare, almost rehearsing what he would say and how he would handle things. As well as Joan Hammell [Prescott’s special adviser], Jonathan and Richard W were brought in. JP stumbled over a few words and I suggested he just take the agenda and see how things go, as there were no real big decisions to be made.

There was a seemingly endless conversation in Cabinet itself re [reform of] the Lords. JP said he intended to be clear outside that the party did not want an elected second chamber as a rival to the Commons. He told me earlier he was fed up with ‘the little red gnome’ (RC) briefing the press about some of his moves re Parliament and then expecting the Cabinet to be bounced and I think the Lords gambit – out of nowhere – was his warning shot. Cabinet lasted far longer than usual, again reflecting an earlier comment by JP that TB did not let discussions flow enough, but you would be hard pushed to refer to any decision or new point that was made. They also got into a discussion re the Speaker [of the Commons, Michael Martin]. They were worried re MM saying the Tories couldn’t attack TB over his role as leader of a party, because ultimately that would constrain us more than them. John Reid was the only one really to speak up for Michael, saying he felt there was a lot of snobbery around re the fact a working-class Glaswegian got the job but we should support him. I noticed GB muttering under his breath to himself. We got a letter from Sarah [Brown] re our letters and gift today, so I was trying hard to be understanding of GB’s situation but he really didn’t help himself.

DB was doing his immigration White Paper, which was going OK, but was a bit too pitched to the right-wing media for my taste. I had just concluded the highly vituperative exchanges with Dacre. I went home early to collect Grace from school, then Fiona and I went out for dinner at Les and Mary Hinton’s, a fair old crowd there. I was sitting next to Zeinab Badawi [Sudanese-born BBC newscaster] who was nice enough, and interesting on Islam. Rebekah [Wade,
News of the World
editor] and Ross [Kemp, her actor fiancé] were there but fairly quiet for them. Jeff Randall [BBC business editor] was anything but, full of right-wing views dressed up as fact and wisdom. I liked Mary Hinton, a real good old working-class type who struck me as someone who saw through the lot of them. Les told me he had been shocked by Rupert’s tolerance of James [Murdoch] swearing so much
in front of TB. I said TB rather liked it of him. He said afterwards they had gone to a pub for a drink, James had started up again and the barman told him to shut up and stop swearing.

Alex [Ferguson] came in and he and I went for lunch at the National Portrait Gallery. It was always good to get his take on things because he followed politics closely, but with a very outside-the-beltway view. He felt we were doing OK, but he thought immigration really picking up as an issue. I told him re my current doubts about the job, and he still felt I would regret it massively if I went. He wondered if the press were getting to me more than I realised, but it was more the stuff at home and the feeling at the office I was doing too much of the stuff I had now done for years. He was glad he had stayed, said it was as much Cathy [his wife] as he who had made up his mind on it, because she realised just how much he would miss it. He was still fit and relatively young and he just would not be fulfilled without it. We both had fish and chips, the most amazing chips I’ve had in yonks, identically shaped. He said [David] Beckham [Manchester United footballer] was becoming more and more difficult to deal with. He now had four different agents who came in last time with forty-nine different demands related to his new contract. He [Beckham] was also beginning to commute a lot more between north and south, flying up for training, which was OK once or twice, but ludicrous as a long-term thing.

I did a conference call to plan next week’s football match in Kabul. They were reckoning on 30,000 people turning up for it. TB called from Ghana, said he was enjoying it and glad he had gone. He said the president of Ghana [John Kufuor] had introduced his press officer as ‘my Alastair’ to which the press guy [Kwabena Agyepong] said ‘I wish.’ ‘Your notoriety has spread to the continent of Africa,’ he said. He seemed in relaxed mood, at one point asking me ‘What are the Sundays up to?’ then before I could answer ‘Aw, who cares?’

Nick Matthews [senior duty clerk] called before 8 to say that Princess Margaret had died. TB was currently being told and it would be announced by the Palace shortly. There was no need for him to come back, but he would need to say something so I might want to start thinking about that. I reminded Nick that he was the one who called me re [Princess] Diana’s death. ‘That was a bit more dramatic than this one,’ he said. TB called as he waited to leave for Sierra Leone.
Tanya [Joseph] had done a draft statement that was OK so things were basically under control. I said it was important he didn’t try too hard, or appear emotional, just say she was basically a good thing, thoughts with the Queen, Queen Mum, rest of family, etc. [Sir] Robin Janvrin [the Queen’s private secretary] called to go through the statement they were putting out. He said the Queen actually saw it all as a bit of a release and a mercy because she had been in a good deal of pain. Her instincts were to carry on with her (fairly light) duties next week, and to make the funeral private. He said the Queen would probably want to speak to TB later.

TB set off for Sierra Leone, met the troops and the government welcoming party and then did his doorstep on Margaret. It was a bit actorish for my liking, but OK I guess. We had to watch any sense of this being anything like Diana. Janvrin was thinking the same thing though perhaps for different reasons when he called pre TB’s call with the Queen. He said she wanted advice on how to avoid the comparisons with Diana in terms of tributes, flowers, mood etc. I felt the simplest thing was to say it, to make clear this was different in part because it was expected. I also felt people would respond to the fact the Queen and Queen Mother would take this differently and there was a case for them being seen fairly soon, showing she was still up and about and doing her duty, but also showing some emotion at the loss of a younger sister. She would clearly be thinking of her own mortality, not to mention her mother’s. [Prince] Charles went to Sandringham ‘to comfort the Queen Mother’ and also did a broadcast, which was OK but he was not a natural presenter and he shifted around too much, creating constant distractions from what he was saying.