Alastair Campbell in dust-up with man who spat at him in the street
WHEN Alastair Campbell was spat at in the street he probably hoped to put the ugly altercation out of his mind as quickly as possible.
However, the clash ignited an extraordinary row with one of the former Labour spin chief’s greatest critics.
Firebrand George Galloway released CCTV of the incident and accused Campbell of ‘striking an elderly man in a Hampstead street’.
The Bradford West MP branded Campbell, a ‘violent aggressive thug and world class l i ar and deceiver’ – probably a reference to his involvement in Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq. Gallo-
‘At which point spitting ensued’
way added: ‘One could pity Campbell in his drug and alcohol fuelled psychotic aggression i f there weren’t so many dead bodies on his conscience...’
Yesterday, Campbell, 57, was forced to deny hitting the man of 61 who called him ‘the biggest piece of s*** I’ve ever seen in this street’.
In an angry 1,000 word statement, Campbell insisted: ‘If there was any contact at all it was minimal.’
The clash took place on a street a short distance from his home on the edge of Hampstead Heath, North London.
CCTV footage shows Campbell, who is wearing running clothes, pushing away a man as he walks towards him.
The man appears to say something and has admitted he abused Campbell after recognising him. The unidentified father- of-three claimed in the local Ham and High newspaper that Campbell ‘ struck out’ and ‘hit me on my shoulder’.
He said: ‘I turned to confront him and said, “that is assault, you should be in prison”.
‘At which point spitting ensued and then I aimed a blow with my foot that did not connect. He had no right to punch me.’
The coverage clearly stung Campbell, who is advising Ed Miliband ahead of the General Election, and he published a detailed rebuttal on his website. He said: ‘As I passed him I did not look at him, did not respond to his insults and put my arm out to his shoulder to stop him coming any closer.
‘He followed me, continued to abuse me and when I turned around he came towards me and aimed a kick at me which came into brief contact with my leg.
‘He then moved back but he came forward again and spat at me, most of the spit landing on my shirt, some on my face. I then turned and walked away. He continued to shout abuse.’
Campbell also questioned the motives of the man, who has not been identified. It is not known how t he CCTV footage was obtained.
‘The fact that he went to Galloway rather than the police, does not wish to be identified, and wishes to have his claims made anonymously through Galloway’s office, speaks volumes,’ he said. And he accused the Respect MP of stirring up trouble with inaccurate Twitter statements.
Galloway responded with a torrent of abuse. He said Campbell ‘ blew the key trumpet for wars which plunged the whole world in blood.’
Last night Campbell said the clash would not put him off his regular jogs. Police said no complaint has been made.