Alastair Campbell is one of the most influential, discussed, and divisive figures in modern British politics.
Rising to prominence in the ‘80s as Political Editor for the Daily Mirror, before moving to Today in the ‘90s, Alastair left journalism to become press secretary to the then-newly-elected opposition leader, Tony Blair. When Labour secured an electoral victory in 1997, Alastair also became Blair’s speechwriter and chief strategist. Ingratiating himself as a key figure in the New Labour movement, he would oversee two more re-election campaigns.
Since leaving his post under Blair, Alastair has kept busy, continuing to act as a freelance political advisor for various European governments, as well as editing The New World and interviewing for GQ. In 2022, Alastair partnered with Rory Stewart to launch The Rest Is Politics, which - at the time of writing - ranks as the single most popular podcast in Britain.
Why did we invite him on?
It’s always easier to criticise and prospect from the sidelines. To thrust utopianism on the real world without ever facing the consequences. It’s another thing entirely to make calls on the world stage.
We are fascinated by outspoken characters, especially those who have seen the machine from the inside. Alastair is one such case.
We wanted to explore Alastair’s assessment of Britain in 2026. The state of our politics, the fate of its people, and the marriage of the two as captured in the rise of populism.
We got that, and we got more.
What did we talk about?
‘Elites’, whether that be billionaires or academic authorities or career politicians, have never been less popular. For the first time in recent memory, credentials are a mark against you - the public wants one of their own. If you’re a hopeful political actor and want to pull people in on the left or right, you have no choice but to adopt the populist view. Whether Alastair likes it or not, the age of populism has arrived.
He doesn’t like it. Why not?
”It depends how you define it … For me, populism is about exploiting problems and not solving them. It’s not about meeting challenges together; it’s about driving people apart. That’s my take, and that’s why I don’t like it.”
Woven into Alastair’s definition is a key recognition: there are indeed problems. Some argue that they alone are sufficient explanations for the rise of populism. Alastair disagrees.
”There are some very effective political operators who have worked out that their route to power is populism as I define it. Trump in America, Farage here, we know who they are. One of the things I find so comical about the populist right is that they’re very nationalist, but they fight it on a global level. It’s such a con that they’ve tricked people into thinking they’re on the side of the people. They’re globalists fighting against globalism.”
Framed like that, it’s unclear how it caught on. If democracy is the sum wisdom of a population, why does Alastair think they keep falling for hucksters?
”There’s a sense that democratic politics wasn’t producing leaders that people felt were their leaders. I think Tony probably was the last one here. I didn’t like Thatcher, but when she was Prime Minister, I didn’t think ‘It’s ridiculous that she’s the Prime Minister’. I think that all the time now.”
Konstantin suggests that these criticisms ignore the real problems. They condemn the results of the problems more than the problems themselves For example, Farage came to prominence on a wave of anti-immigration sentiment which has percolated more and more over the last decade or so. Is his popularity his own fault, or a comment on how betrayed the British public feels about his chief issue?
Or take the case of the grooming gangs. If it had been tackled properly in the first place, would the “con-artists” Alastair talks about have been able to “exploit” it?
”I don’t know. Some of the anger is justified, but a lot of it isn’t.”
Konstantin lays out his view: 50,000 illegal immigrants should not be coming into the United Kingdom every calendar year. Is that a fair position?
”Depending on the wider context, it might not be.”
