Press office with Campbell at helm ‘lost all credibility’
DOWNING STREET’S press operation “lost all credibility as a reliable, truthful, objective operation” under Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair was told by his principal private secretary in 2003.
Jeremy Heywood – later Lord Heywood – told the then prime minister in a memo marked “confidential – personal” that: “Even respectable journalists treat it with caution – part of a relentless politically-dominated spin machine … this is disastrous for the authority of your own office.”
Mr Campbell had announced his intention to step down, which Mr Heywood described as “a unique opportunity to rebuild confidence”.
Earlier the same year Mr Campbell played a pivotal role in a spat between No 10 and the BBC over its coverage of the build up to the Iraq war, during which Mr Blair wrote personally to the BBC chairman to complain.
In May 2003 reporter Andrew Gilligan claimed on Radio 4’s Today programme that the Government had “sexed up” a dossier on Saddam Hussein’s ability to launch weapons of mass destruction in order to help justify the invasion of Iraq.
Documents released by the National Archives reveal that two months later Mr Campbell sent a memo to Mr Blair in which he accused BBC executives of a “culture of arrogance” over the dossier controversy. He added: “If the BBC remains belligerent, I think the rhetoric has to be stepped up, up to and including the threat of putting the issue in the hands of lawyers.”
Mr Blair had already complained to the BBC chairman Gavyn Davies over the corporation’s reporting in the days before the Us-led invasion got underway in March 2003.
The imminent invasion had by then already caused deep division within the Labour Party and led to widespread public protest.
Writing on Mar 19 – the day the air attack phase of the war began – Mr Blair said he had “seen and heard enough” and that he had to complain about the BBC’S coverage.
He told Mr Davies: “In a democracy, voices of dissent and opposition are rightly heard. But the balance in BBC reporting and comment has not been there. I have also been shocked by some of the editorialising of your interviewers and reporters.”