Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Corbyn is the real heir to Blair

His wing of Labour has no more in common with blue-collar voters than the Momentum monkeys of Islington

Alastair Campbell once famously punched the Guardian’s Michael White in the face. A commendable thing to do, undoubtedly, as Mr White is the very incarnation of pomposity and self-righteousness. Quite possibly the best thing Campbell has ever done. But the brief spat (White hit back, according to White) was revealing in another way. Robert Maxwell had just drowned by falling off his yacht and Campbell, then working in the lobby for Maxwell’s paper, the Daily Mirror, took exception to White’s glee at this watery end to the proprietor’s life. ‘Captain Bob, Bob, Bob!’ White chortled, so Campbell punched him. He adored Maxwell and was his ‘close adviser’, no matter that the sunken Czech was regarded by most of the rest of the world as a fat, lying crook with megalomaniac tendencies.

This is the thing about Alastair. He has a kind of deep man-love for messianic bullies, no matter how immoral they might be. Not long after this incident, Campbell transferred his crush to Tony Blair, which is how we will remember him — as a liar’s paid liar. It was a love close to worship – ‘Tony’ could do no wrong. Even now there are only two people in the country who think that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was anything other than catastrophic. Just Tony and Alastair.

So if you had secured an interview with Blair, who out of the 60 million people in this country would be the worst possible person to do it? Like getting Vladimir Putin’s dog to interview Vladimir Putin. Anyway, GQ magazine commissioned Campbell to slobber at Blair’s feet for an hour in a video interview.

It ought to be said that GQ has form, too. In 2014 it made Blair ‘Philanthropist of the Year’, something which seems to be beyond the reach of satire.

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