Alastair Campbell Biography
Alastair Campbell is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and campaigner who rose to prominence during Tony Blair’s tenure as Labour Party leader.
How old is Alastair Campbell? – Age
He is 66 years old as of 25 May 2023. He was born in 1957 in Keighley, United Kingdom.
Alastair Campbell Family – Education
Campbell was born to Scottish veterinary physician Donald Campbell and his wife Elizabeth. Campbell’s parents had relocated to Keighley after his father accepted a position as a partner in a local veterinary practice. Donald was a Tiree Gaelic speaker, and his wife was from Ayrshire. Campbell had two older brothers, Donald and Graeme, as well as a younger sister, Elizabeth. He briefly attended Bradford Grammar School before moving on to City of Leicester Boys’ Grammar School and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied contemporary languages, French and German, earning an upper second (2:1).
Alastair Campbell Wife
After 42 years together, he and British journalist Fiona Millar engaged in a civil partnership on March 30, 2021. They have two sons and one daughter, comedian Grace Campbell.
Alastair Campbell Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $6 million.
Alastair Campbell Podcast
In March 2022, he and Rory Stewart established the Rest is Politics podcast, which has been the #1 politics podcast in the UK in the Apple rankings since its inception, and is frequently the leading podcast in the UK. In May 2019, he announced the debut of a joint podcast with his daughter Grace, a comedian and feminist, called Football, Feminism, and Everything In Between: a series of conversations with figures from politics, sports, and other fields. Ed Miliband was their first interviewee, followed by Rachel Riley, Jamie Carragher, Kelly Holmes, and Maro Itoje.
In March 2022, he debuted The Rest is affairs, a new podcast in which he discusses domestic and international affairs with former Tory cabinet member Rory Stewart. It was an instant hit, rocketing to the top of the Apple UK podcast charts by week two, prompting calls for him and Stewart to launch a new center-right party. Campbell and Rory Stewart, a former Conservative Member of Parliament and a contender in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership race, created The Rest is Politics podcast in March 2022. The two talk about current events and reminisce about their previous professions.
Alastair Campbell We Don’t Do God
Campbell has defined himself as a pro-faith atheist, and his remark “we don’t do God” is one of his most popular catchphrases. However, in late 2017, he was requested to contribute to a book on the meaning of Christmas by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, whom Campbell had interviewed for GQ.
Alastair Campbell Iraq War
In the approach the Iraq War, Campbell was engaged with the arrangement and arrival of the “September Dossier” in September 2002 and the “Iraq Dossier” (nicknamed “Dodgy Dossier”) in February 2003. These documents made the case that there should be concern about Iraq’s WMDs. The actual intelligence findings have been criticized as being exaggerated or distorted in either case.
The ensuing examination uncovered that the September Dossier had been changed on Campbell’s requests to be predictable with a discourse given by George W. Bramble and explanations by other US authorities. Campbell instructed Sir John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, in a memo on September 9, 2002, that the British dossier be “one that complements rather than conflicts with” the claims made by the United States.
Campbell made the following observation regarding WMDs in Iraq later in 2003: “Come on, you don’t seriously think we won’t find anything?” During the Hutton Inquiry into the death of David Kelly in August 2003, he resigned. Kelly’s view that the public authority overstated the Iraqi danger in the Iraq Dossier, told to BBC columnists Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts, had prompted Campbell fighting with the BBC.
Campbell had decided, in his own words, to use Kelly’s conversation with the BBC to “fuck Gilligan” when Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told him. Lord Hutton was informed by Kelly family counsel: The family requests an investigation to determine whether the government purposefully chose to use Dr. Kelly as a pawn in its conflict with the BBC. In June 2013, Campbell stated that Tony Blair was “more committed to wartime truth than Winston Churchill.” Campbell gave proof to the Iraq Request on 12 January 2010.
Alastair Campbell Mental Health
Campbell’s depressive experience was recounted in a BBC documentary named Cracking Up. He has now become a vocal supporter and advocate for the anti-stigma mental health initiative Time to Change. In November 2017, he was named an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in appreciation of his efforts to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and to promote the value of psychiatry.
Campbell served as a celebrity continuity announcer during the Mental Health Foundation’s takeover of Channel Four for Mental Health Awareness Week 2017. Two years later, during Mental Health Awareness Week, he aired the documentary Alastair Campbell: Depression and Me, which explored various ways of dealing with and coping with depression. It was part of a BBC series highlighting various mental health disorders.
In 2019, he was named worldwide ambassador of Australians for Mental Health, a new umbrella organization campaigning for better mental health services. He made numerous television appearances and sparked controversy when he said on Australia’s version of Question Time that Donald Trump and other populists were “sowing the seeds of fascism.” He then wrote the book Living Better about his battle with depression.