The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume 4: The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq
Alastair Campbell
The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume 4: The Burden of Power: Countdown to Iraq
It begins on September 11, 2001, a day which immediately wrote itself into the history books, and it ends on the day Campbell leaves Downing Street. In between there are two wars: first Afghanistan, and then, even more controversially, Iraq. It was the most difficult decision of Tony Blair's premiership, and almost certainly the most unpopular. Campbell describes in detail the discussions with President Bush and other world leaders as the steps to war are taken, and delivers a unique account of Blair as war leader. He records the enormous political difficulties at home, and the sense of crisis that engulfed the government after the suicide of weapons inspector David Kelly. And all the while, Blair continues to struggle with two issues that ran throughout his time in government - fighting for peace in Northern Ireland, and trying to make peace with Gordon Brown. And Campbell continues to struggle balancing the needs of his family with one of the most pressurised roles in politics.
3.2 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Society, Politics & Philosophy, History |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
752 |
| RRP |
|
| Date of Publication |
June 2012 |
| ISBN |
978-0091796280 |
| Publisher |
Hutchinson |
| |
It begins on September 11, 2001, a day which immediately wrote itself into the history books, and it ends on the day Campbell leaves Downing Street. In between there are two wars: first Afghanistan, and then, even more controversially, Iraq. It was the most difficult decision of Tony Blair's premiership, and almost certainly the most unpopular. Campbell describes in detail the discussions with President Bush and other world leaders as the steps to war are taken, and delivers a unique account of Blair as war leader. He records the enormous political difficulties at home, and the sense of crisis that engulfed the government after the suicide of weapons inspector David Kelly. And all the while, Blair continues to struggle with two issues that ran throughout his time in government - fighting for peace in Northern Ireland, and trying to make peace with Gordon Brown. And Campbell continues to struggle balancing the needs of his family with one of the most pressurised roles in politics.
The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume Three: Power and Responsibility 1999-2001
The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume Two: Power and the People 1997-1999
The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume One: Prelude to Power 1994-1997
Reviews
The Observer
John Kampfner
“As a first draft of history, albeit a highly partial one, this account is hard to beat ... Campbell's evident personality flaws, coupled with his political passions, made him a far more intriguing character than most around him. They have equally ensured that his diaries will be required reading for the New Labour era.”
24/06/2012
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The Times
David Aaronovitch
“... authenticity adheres to these pages like oil on an engineer’s rag. They haven’t been prettified, intellectualised or gathered second hand. This is the real thing ... Oddly, Campbell himself seems to have no very strong views on Iraq. He has respect for Bush, none for Donald Rumsfeld and is slightly scared (very rare for Campbell) of Dick Cheney. In that sense he is a functionary, and not at all a player — as was rather crudely assumed by sillier media folk.”
23/06/2012
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The Financial Times
Philip Stephens
“It is hard to imagine The Burden of Power flying off the shelves. There is, though, a selling point. Memoirs and the rest are written through the self-justifying lens of hindsight. Campbell’s contemporaneous jottings take the reader behind the grand sweep to capture the texture and grit of events as they were lived ... It’s the inadvertent insights wrapped up in these accounts of the daily maelstrom that are the most revealing. New Labour was supposed to be the master of spin but what emerges is a Downing Street forever in thrall to the media.”
22/06/2012
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The Guardian
Chris Mullin
“This is not an easy read. As in earlier volumes, the pace of events is so relentless that it is hard for ordinary mortals to keep pace as a small elite flit between capital cities and fortified condominiums — and to complicate matters, most participants are referred to by their initials. Campbell comes into his own, however, when the big events take over. The final months leading to the Hutton inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of David Kelly are riveting.”
23/06/2012
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The Evening Standard
Christopher Meyer
“You have to ask who is going to read this stuff, apart from university politics departments and a fading generation who took part in the events described. The daily cut-and-thrust of politics goes stale faster than a cupcake. All those battles and personality clashes seem already so far away. Who cares what Charles Clarke or John Reid thought about this or that? Who were Charles Clarke and John Reid, for that matter? There is little of the wit or elegance that you find in, say, the diaries of Chris Mullin, a lesser Labour figure of the time. What Campbell does have is a kind of crude, confessional energy, which conveys very well the intolerable pressures under which prime ministers and their immediate staff work.”
21/06/2012
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