Diaries Volume One: Prelude to Power 1994-1997 (Campbell Diaries Uncut Vol 1) [Hardcover]

Leaves the reader in no doubt about the brilliance with which Campbell shepherded Labour to victory. That is not because he says so himself: he clearly has a high regard for his own capabilities, but has the sense to let his achievements speak for themselves.
-- New Statesman

There are plenty of nuggets here that are fascinating, some passages that make you wince and others that are gripping. It has historical value --Observer

Campbell is a compelling diarist . . . provides the fullest insider account so far of new Labour's ascent to power --The Times

Campbell's world is the brutal, angry, hard-driven, joky, football-crazed and intensely male world of tabloid journalism. He is a fluent and industrious reporter, with amazing stamina: it is quite a feat, at the end of days dealing with the press on Blair's behalf that he managed to get this account down --Telegraph

Hugely gripping . . . all of human life is here. It makes The Thick of It look tame. And sane --Sunday Times

The abundance of extra detail throws up some richly comic moments . . . Campbell's writing has much of the brutal honestly of [Alan] Clark's
--Sunday Telegraph

The Blair Years was a taster. Prelude to Power reveals the diairies uncut. And it is just the beginning.

As Alastair Campbell said in the introduction to The Blair Years, it was always his intention to publish the full version, covering his time as spokesman and chief strategist to Tony Blair. Prelude to Power is the first of four volumes, and covers the early days of New Labour, culminating in their victory at the polls in 1997.

Volume 1 details the extraordinary tensions between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as they resolved the question as to which one should stand to become Labour leader. It shows that right from the start, relations at the top were prone to enormous strain, suspicions and accusations of betrayal. Yet it also shows the political and personal bonds that tied them together, and which made them one of the most feared and respected electoral machines anywhere in the world.

A story of politics in the raw, Prelude to Power is above all an intimate, detailed portrait of the people who have done so much to shape modern history.

THE BLAIR YEARS was a publishing sensation that in 2007 attracted widespread critical acclaim around the world. Based on extracts from Alastair Campbell's diaries, it withheld politically sensitive material and the author admitted the full story would have to wait. Now that full story, recorded in meticulous detail every day that Campbell was alongside Tony Blair, can begin to be told, in the first of four riveting volumes.

PRELUDE TO POWER begins on the day John Smith dies and ends as Tony Blair enters Downing Street three years later. From the hitherto unpublished opening pages, it offers a unique perspective on the key personalities in the New Labour story and the bonds and sometimes explosive tensions between them. It chronicles the forging of a renowned election-winning machine, and the relentlessness of Blair and his team in their pursuit of the party modernisation they believed to be essential to winning power. It captures both the drama of an historic election campaign and the turmoil of modern political life.

But if this is a story of politics in the raw, it is above all an intimate and detailed portrait of the people who did so much to shape modern history. The Blair-Brown relationship is central to the narrative -- from the strategic and political successes they achieved, to the difficult moments that resulted in the exasperation of Blair and Campbell as they sought to persuade key people to work together.

Campbell, a powerful and controversial character, combines the eye of the journalist with the perception of the top-flight political strategist to produce diaries that are frank, often funny, always utterly compelling and which, as even his harshest critics have acknowledged, will be devoured by historians for generations.

Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1957, the son of a vet. After graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in modern languages, his first chosen career was journalism, principally with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, he asked Campbell to be his press secretary. He worked for Blair - first in that capacity, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy - from 1994 to 2003, since when he has been mainly engaged in writing, public speaking, working for Leukaemia Research, where he is chairman of fundraising, and continuing to advise Blair, Gordon Brown and other leading Labour figures. His first novel, All In The Mind, and an accompanying award-winning TV documentary, Cracking Up, led to him being voted Mind Champion of the Year. A second novel, Maya, was published earlier this year. He lives in North London with his partner of thirty years, Fiona Millar, and their children, Rory, 22, Calum, 20, and Grace, 16. His interests include running, cycling, playing the bagpipes and following the varying fortunes of Burnley Football Club.