Campbell to Cherie: I never swore at your hairdresser
James Forsyth 6:25pm
There is a classic letter from Alistair Campbell in The Times today disputing Cherie Blair’s account in her book of how Campbell swore at her hairdresser.
Sir, Before “you’re only a f***ing hairdresser” replaces “we don’t do God” as my most quoted remark, could I make clear that while I did say “we don’t do God” to an American magazine journalist, I have never described Andre Suard as “only a f***ing hairdresser” to anyone. There are other direct quotations attributed to me in your recent serialisation of Cherie Blair’s book which were not accurate, but this is the one I would like to deny, not least since it goes against the rule I have tended to operate most of my working life, which is to save my harshest words for colleagues at or above my level within the organisation. I think people I have worked for, and who have worked for me, would confirm this as my general approach.
Campbell goes on to say that he always liked Andre who used to save him the time it took to go to the barbers by cutting his hair in Cherie’s bathroom. You really couldn't make this stuff up.
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Comments
salieri
May 24th, 2008 6:45pmOur hearts bleed. Those that live by the lie shall die by the lie.
Water
May 24th, 2008 7:16pmMadness
Chuck Unsworth
May 24th, 2008 7:30pmThis is of international significance. Clearly lies are being told, but which of the two consummate liars is lying about this?
Perry
May 24th, 2008 7:34pmPoor dear. He looks so tired and worn. Of course, . . . his book . . .?
Richard Lowe
May 24th, 2008 7:35pmWho cares.
When will these dreadful people just shut up and go away. Nobody’s interested. They’re yesterday’s news.
John F Aberdeen
May 24th, 2008 7:57pmCampbell, the Blairs, Prescott,Brown etal and the whole Nulab bunch may have loads of money, power etc. however they prove the saying that "you can take a socialist out of the gutter but you can,t take the gutter out of the socialist"
Over the past 11 plus years they have systematically broken this country and reduced its reputation to their gutter level.
They have absolutely no shame, no conception of what decent people would recognise as honour, pride and decency.
Frankly they are a hideous stench in the nostrils of decent people.
Its a great pity we, in our broken country, have to wait another 2 years before they are swept out of power.
If the conservative opposition or even the armed forces decide to end their hold on power much sooner than 2 years I would be fully supportive, because the Augean Stables (Westminster) badly require to be throughly cleansed.
Tiberius
May 24th, 2008 8:00pmA man of principle, our Al.
Doesn't use his harshest words against those below him in the food chain, but is prepared to do damage to his country to keep his paymaster (and himself and his other half) in a job.
As Basil Fawlty exclaimed when he exited the broom cupboard with mop held aloft, "right, the game's up!"
batman
May 24th, 2008 8:04pmIf I ever said ' you're only a f**king hairdreser' to my woman- who is my only f**cking hairdresser - I'd be skinned alive. So I believe the tw*t this time.
Trumpeter Lanfried
May 24th, 2008 8:26pmDear Alistair, If I want to read meaningless drivel I will buy Nuts magazine and check up on Katie Price's breast enlargements.
Austin Barry
May 24th, 2008 9:17pmThis nonsense for some reason evoked a paraphrase of Bob Hoskin's memorable line in The Long Good Friday, " Nu Labour? I've s*** 'em." What a tawdry, intellectually shell-suited bunch of reptiles.
John W
May 24th, 2008 11:06pmHe's only a f**king spin-doctor.
I find Alistair Campbell very likable - despite his having sprung from the loins of satan.
A J Scott
May 25th, 2008 6:25amWarhol is right again - shut up Mrs Blair, Mr Campbell etc, you've had your 15 minutes of "fame".
Perry
May 25th, 2008 7:47am[OT]
Apropos of nothing and everything, - but probably something spawned by Bliar’s Spinner (see above) - I seem to have woken up with half-uttered slogans littering my thoughts. I hear Wislon and his ‘white heat of ‘ (change was it?) and his ‘ years of Tory mis-rule’. The previous Beloved Leader and ‘Forward with Noo-Lie-Bore’. Others rattle round as distant thunder claps, or claps of something. Technology seems frequently to have been invoked as hope. One need look no further than the Revenue or NHS linkage projects to see where that leads.
Presumably, polytwaddle and other socialist toffs will, this morning, be full of advice to the present Beloved. And also to the fragrant Tamsin. It will be guidance about how to rescue their various campaigns, neglecting to note that it’s over. Kaput. Done for. Time to B. off and do something useful for a change.
This spiteful and mean-spirited writing reflects a longish lifetime of listening to socialist twaddle, and watching the inevitable soaring ascendancy, followed by nose-dive into a very hard earth.
And I suppose I’m just wondering, watching, and waiting for the latest cycle of the Great Wheel to complete.
mitch
May 25th, 2008 8:56amjudging by la blairs barnet not a very good hairdresser either.
Nicholas
May 25th, 2008 10:25amPerry I hear you. The last six months have raised the ghastly ghosts of Labour past. The names and half-remembered empty phrases still transmit a shudder.
One day a historian will dissect Labour's generational assault on Britain 1945-2010 (?) but it will have to be very good to recreate the actual skin-crawling misery of living through their stench and stain.
Commondog
May 25th, 2008 10:50amHave you had this Photoshopped to make him look such a mess?
Can't say I have any sympathy.
I hate him and all he fails to stand up for.
TGF UKIP
May 25th, 2008 11:19amAmong all the amusement at their self degradation, let's not forget that this lot have not unrealistic ambitions to rule Europe as Executive President, Presidentess and "Director of Communications."
Scary
May 25th, 2008 2:33pmSo in defending himself, Campbell manages to patronise Andre further by emphasising how lowly the hairdresser was compared with him. So expletives are a mark of respect, of which Andre was not due. Lovely.
Max Kaye
May 25th, 2008 4:54pmThe best way to deal with any of Campbell's statements is to wipe it off the sole of one's shoe.
Familiar Clown
May 26th, 2008 1:59pmLets's face it, her whole book is rather theatrical and in keeping with the pretentious style of the writer. Her narcissim is breathtaking.
As for Campbell's alleged retort to her haidresser guru, what's an embellishment here or there in such a career of trademark lies? This is probably the only truly political point made in the entire book.