By Will Sturgeon, 9 February 2005 12:45
NEWS Tony Blair's former spin doctor-in-chief Alastair Campbell has committed a stunning digital blunder which saw him fire off a four-letter tirade in error to a journalist at the BBC.
Reacting angrily to allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour's recently binned campaign posters, an email sent in error by Campbell to the Newsnight journalist Andrew McFadyen, when intended for ad agency TBWA, suggested the BBC should "fuck off and cover something important".
He also referred to BBC journalists at "twats", adding to a rift between the spin doctor and the broadcaster which first reached a head over the 'dodgy dossier' in 2004.
However, Campbell tried to laugh off the blunder, attributing it to not being "very good at this email Blackberry malarkey" in a second email.
He also suggested it is the kind of 'joke' he might normally share with Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman.
"Final sentence of earlier email probably a bit colourful and personal considering we have never actually met but I'm sure you share the same sense of humour as your star presenter Mr P," he wrote.
Despite a chequered track record, Campbell, was recently welcomed back into Downing Street by Tony Blair to work on the campaign for the forthcoming General Election.
But he sparked fresh controversy following the shelved launch of a poster campaign portraying Tory leader Michael Howard as a 'Shylock' character as well as a second poster which cast shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin and Howard as flying pigs.
The pictures raised criticism among the Jewish community leading Labour MP Andrew Dismore, who represents a large Jewish community in his Hendon constituency, to brand them "puerile" and "offensive".
Colleagues have done little to rally around Campbell. A Downing Street spokesman told The Independent: "The person you are referring to is capable of speaking for himself and he no longer works in government."
Clearly keen to disenfranchise more voters, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the same newspaper the technophobia which lead to the blunder probably owes much to Campbell's Burnley roots and his support for the town's football club – often portrayed by rival clubs' fans as being backwards and in-bred.
"The fact a Burnley fan should be technologically challenged comes as no surprise," he said.
Comments
There are 11 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Whilst Campbell's comments say little for his own judgement, what can it say about the judgement of the person who employed him? Not once, but twice!
2. anonymous
Campbell is on overrated common foulmouthed thug. Most people know that it is he that is the 'Tw-t'!
Most people are sick of Blair and his appointed cronies.
This coming election is not over yet, not by a long shot!
3. Joe Buckley
I don't like Campbell but I have to say I agree with his comment.
Trying to pretend that the 'flying pig' metaphor is anti-semitic is just stupid. For a reputable news organisation to give this view credence is worse.
4. anonymous
While it may come as 'no surprise that a Burnley supporter should be technologically challenged', it comes as equally no surprise that those at the centre of responsible government in this country should display such a cynical small-minded and back-biting attitude as evidenced by these two gentlenmen's indiscretions. It is perhaps time we had more responsible people in places of power. Or is it the nature of the beast?
5. Peter James Killelea
I think it must be explained to your readers (and I am definitely not a Labour man) that Jack Straw is the MP for Blackburn and his comments about Campbell are almost certainly made "tongue-in-cheek." The rivalry between the two towns goes much further than football, yet most is attributed to it.
I am sure Jack Straw is not making a serious attack on the people of Burnley for being IT illiterate, but rather "taking the piss." And good on him for doing so, bring on the PC brigade whom do doubt will tell us that having a laugh should be outlawed!
6. W.S.Becket
I don't think Campbell has said anything that any reasonable person could disagree with.
7. anonymous
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think it was the flying pigs poster that had the "anti semetic" label. More the Micheal Howard is Shylock poster.
Always a pleasure to see Alistair Campbell in the news....it gives us all faith that someone else can win the next election.
8. Alistair Thomas
I'm not surprised he's back. Any party that tries to sell broadly right of centre policies with any sort of Labour veneer (Old, new whatever) is going to need to do a lot of lying and deceiving (sorry spinning) to convince their traditionally left of centre audience that everything is still 'OK'.
With an election looming they will need their biggest spinner back in harness. I'm sure Mr Campbell thinks that using four letter words enhances his street cred - a man of the people, not afraid to talk common etc. Having seen him on the telly when he gets rattled I think he is common and reverts to type under pressure. I don't buy the 'Joke' for a second.
For sure this was a mistake and ironically an honest one since it probably reveals his true feelings. Furthermore, I think this shows his true character and makes me even more inclined to believe the bruising tactics he was cleared of using with journalists and civil servants during the Hutton investigation.
He's utterly discredited in my view, he and the senior people in his party who think he is so great.
On the recent ads, I thought the flying pigs ad was reasonably amusing and would have escaped anti-Semitic tagging had it not been for the incompetence of releasing it with another ad that featured such an obvious Jewish character. Even if you allow that it was not the ethnicity of the character but the character traits that they were lampooning, is Labour’s strategy so bankrupt that they can’t find any actual issues to talk about and have to resort to character assignation and name-calling from the get-go? Please can this election contain some serious debate about some serious issues?
9. anonymous
D'you know what bothers so many people about Campbell? It's not that he's foul-mouthed, or "common", but that he's bloody effective at what he does and not in the least afraid to take the flak for doing it.
He won't thank me for saying so, but his "forceful" approach to the media is not unlike that of Mrs Thatcher's king of spin, Bernard Ingham...and he growled and snarled his way to a Sirhood. Campbell's "mistake" was to allow himself to become bigger news than his boss, but in the age of the personality cult, that should come as no surprise.
Blair doesn't have much of a personality, does he?
10. Nick Cole
Campbell thinks politics is unimportant! Well well, what an endorsement. Thus spake the horse's mouth.
Or is this double speak for wishing the common public would stop bothering politicians and let them get on with doing what they want?
He has demonstrated his total lack of fitness to hold any form of public high-profile job. I wonder who'll read his CV next?
11. Dennis Howlett
So no attempts to sanitise email by the Labour Party eh? And with all that spin heritage - who'd have thought?