Mind games

Health Editor Barry Nelson meets the man who once struck fear into the hearts of Fleet Street hacks.

FOR someone who acquired an almost demonic reputation as the former “spinmeister”for New Labour, Alastair Campbell now comes across as an affable and contented man. Once regarded as one of the most powerful men in Tony Blair’s government and de facto “deputy prime minister”, Mr Campbell was in the North-East yesterday to pay his dues to the psychiatric profession.

Mr Campbell suffered a breakdown in 1986 when he was the hard-drinking political correspondent of the now-defunct Today newspaper and he is deeply grateful to mental health professionals for putting him on the road to recovery.

The support he received from NHS psychiatrists helped him banish the twin demons of drink – he has now been teetotal for years – and depression.

In fact, he dedicated his novel, All In The Mind, to the two psychiatrists who helped him.

That’s why he was at a Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust medical education conference, at the Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield, County Durham, yesterday, to speak to psychiatrists.

His message to the rest of us is to be more open about mental health issues and seek professional help as soon as possible if there is a problem.

“I didn’t seek help, I had help foisted upon me. I was arrested because I was behaving oddly… and then told I could leave if I got help.

I was taken to hospital, then advised to give up drink,” recalls Mr Campbell.

“I always thought it benefited me being very open about it, and it would benefit us all if we could be more open.”

The big problem with mental health is that it is still seen as a taboo subject, says Mr Campbell.

“Even within the NHS there is stigma and discrimination attached to mental health.”

The help that he received obviously stood him in good stead – allowing him to withstand the intense pressures of managing news at the heart of the Blair government for six years, until his resignation in 2003.

He briefly returned in the run-up to the 2005 General Election, effectively becoming the party’s temporary director of communications, before stepping down after the job was done.

So, would he consider returning to help the party he loves, in the wake of the disastrous European elections?

Mr Campbell says it is not surprising that the combination of the expenses scandal and the global economic crisis has damaged the Government’s standing in the polls.

“We haven’t made sufficiently strongly the strategic case for Europe and the strategic case for immigration,” he says. “People like UKIP and the British National Party are not being challenged in the way they should be.”

He also points out “there are lots and lots of politicians who do a very good job, who are not in it for the money”.

Mr Campbell admits the European results were “terrible”, but argues that in areas where Labour got involved in “good old-fashioned campaigning, knocking on doors, talking to people” they did better.

“I don’t sense the appetite for the Tories and David Cameron that there was for Labour and Tony Blair in 1997. If you did, they would have done far, far better than last Thursday.”

Mr Campbell believes that a General Election can be won by Labour, but only if it is able to get across its achievements to voters.

“Investment in schools, hospitals, tackling crime, tax credits, the minimum wage… you have got to make the case for that, to show that where we have made promises a lot of it has happened. In terms of the NHS, the guy who organised this event tells me that the number of psychiatrists in this area has doubled.

“I still think it is winnable. I think Gordon can do it. If you asked me a question whether Gordon is the right man, the answer is yes.”

But Mr Campbell says the kind of disunity on view in recent days has got to be overcome if Labour is to increase its share of the vote.

He is complimentary about the return of Peter Mandelson – now Lord Mandelson – to the centre of government, and describes the former Hartlepool MP as “a class act”.

But while he is willing to help the Government in the run-up to the next election and is still in close touch with senior Labour politicians, he does not see himself as a candidate for a Labour peerage.

“I can’t see myself in the House of Lords,”

he says.

ONE issue that haunts anyone connected to the Blair government is the invasion of Iraq, but Mr Campbell still thinks the decision was the right one at the time. “Policies are not made in hindsight, they are based on what is known at a given moment in time,” he says.

He accepts that many people remain angry about the decision to go to war, but he argues that many Iraqis are now happy to be living in a country which is no longer ruled by Saddam Hussein.

Assuming there is progress in the Middle East peace talks, Mr Campbell says it is possible that we will look back and think the occupation of Iraq was “an important building block” towards making a general agreement more likely.

Mr Campbell, who famously made his journalistic breakthrough by writing risque stories for the sex magazine, Forum, says he is happy these days doing charity work, supporting organisations such as Mind, for which he was recently voted Champion of the Year, and fundraising for the Labour Party.

“The thing I have really enjoyed is writing novels. The first came out last year and the second one is coming out in February,” he says.