In these tumultuous times, it’s difficult to be certain of anything for too long. But one thing that’s never going to change is Alastair Campbell’s ever-inflating ego.
The former Labour spinner spoke to BBC journalist Kirsty Young this week for her BBC podcast Young Again, where she dissects the lives of her guests, quizzing them on what they’d do differently. For Campbell, you’d think there would be a fairly obvious, um, Middle East-shaped issue he’d spend most time on…
Instead, Tony Blair’s ‘Rottweiler’ used a not insignificant portion of the interview to harp on about how he only wishes he could have done more to save the world. In his typically humble style, Campbell said:
I think I will lie on my deathbed not wishing I’d spent more time at the office, but I will lie on my deathbed wishing I’d done more to change the world. I’ve got no doubt about that.
Mr S is glad to see old age hasn’t dulled Campbell’s sense of self-importance. The spin doctor continued:
The other day somebody stopped me in the street: ‘I love your podcast.’ ‘Oh, thank you very much’, but part of me was thinking, ‘Where’s this going? I’ve got a train to catch.’
And then I said, ‘Yeah, well, it’s great, but if you really want to change the world, you’ve got to get involved properly in politics, you’ve got to start a charity or whatever it might be’, and this woman said: ‘Oh, don’t underestimate how many people you’re touching, you might be inspiring, you might be motivating.’
I walked away and I’d love to be able to say that made me feel good. It didn’t. It made me feel guilty. I walked away thinking, ‘if she thinks I can have that effect on people through doing a podcast or writing a book about activism, how much more could you do if you actually did it properly?’
But the real zinger came when Campbell decided that he was solely responsible for Britain’s relations with the EU and, therefore, the presidential appointment of Donald Trump.
I’ve got to tell you, I can lie awake in bed tonight absolutely convincing myself that I was responsible for Brexit by not getting involved in the first campaign. And because of Brexit, Donald Trump became President. And because Donald Trump became President…
Talk about delusions of grandeur. Campbell also admitted that ‘particularly in the political landscape, you have to have enemies sometimes’. Well, he certainly doesn’t make life easy for himself…
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