Brown right not to call election

Gordon Brown was right not to call an election this week" Alastair Campbell told Gulf News this week. "I said at the [Labour] party conference that I was very unpursuaded".

Audio: Click here to listen to Alastair Campbell talk about Brown and Blair (mp3)

He added: "If Brown wanted to seek a new mandate, he should have done it immediately he became prime minister," making clear that otherwise he saw no reason to change the normal parliamentary timetable under which people completely understand that there are elections every four or five years.

Campbell dismissed the present surge for David Cameron's Conservatives "as not even a crisis, it is a frenzy that will pass and fade away".

He added that while Cameron may think Brown's refusal to call an election may give him a stick to beat Brown with, but "Cameron's basic problems have still not gone away: he has to have come up with some decent policy proposals".

Brown and Blair

The relationship between former prime minister Tony Blair and present Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "a phenomenally successful political partnership," said Campbell.

"There were times at which it was not good at all; and at other points there were creative tensions that helped define arguments and shape policy; and at other times it was a phenomenally successful political partnership.

"Politics is about what people believe, about principle, and about policy. It is also about personality and you are talking about the New Labour government with some very strong personalities at the top, and they have good days and bad days.

"But looking at the big picture we turned a losing party into a winning party, won three general elections, ran the economy sufficiently well to have the longest period of growth and prosperity that any of us can remember, and lots of other things as well."

Northern Ireland

The search for peace in Northern Ireland was a very important part of Blair's premiership, and Campbell made clear how much time had been devoted to it by Blair as prime minister.

"Ireland was very important to Blair. There were various points where he had the bit between his teeth and there are various points where we all thought it was finished, including after the Good Friday agreement.

"There were phenomenal ups and downs, and lots of points that we really thought the whole thing had finished. It was something where his will and his determination kept the whole thing going," Campbell said.

Blair out of office

When Blair resigned as prime minister he also resigned his seat in the House of Commons in a move which surprised many who thought his commitment to politics would mean his continuing to be part of the British political scene.

Campbell dismissed this surprise, saying that while Blair was brilliant in parliament, "he was not a traditional House of Commons man. He was not the sort of man who was going to spend the rest of his life sitting around in the bars talking about the old days".

He added that "Conservative leaders really like to hang around and make life difficult for their successors, and ours [Labour] tend not to".

In addition, Blair knew that the Middle East envoy position was in the offing, which can "put him in a position to have a genuine locus within all the Middle East debates, about which he is very committed".

"Part of that depends on how he manages to work with the American president and American secretary of state" said Campbell, emphasising that "with the current incumbents he has very good relations. So his position is one from which he will be able to contribute something, but it will be very hard".

Relationship with US

One of the most significant foreign affairs policies of Blair's premiership was his strong support for the US administration. This led to his government being attacked for giving support which was seen as far too unquestioning.

Campbell was very clear on why such support was given, while also denying that it was unquestioning.

"Blair would say that one of the most important things about being prime minister is to maintain a very strong relationship with the only superpower in the world. There are all sorts of interlocking issues and things are never straightforward, but you have to have very good reasons to go against the US on a fundamental strategic interest."

This is part of the way Campbell explains how Blair was able to deal so well with both Bill Clinton and George Bush, two very different American presidents with very different characters and politics.

"It is part of Tony's nature to look for the good side, and he sees it as part of the professional challenge of being British prime minister to have good relations with the American president.

"With Clinton the politics were there, the natural empathy there, and it was a square peg in a square hole. The two fitted very naturally. At the first meeting with Bush, we really thought about what was the best way to deal with him. Once the first few meetings were out of the way, they found that they were able to talk to each other and get on."