Campbell praises Cameron’s approach to daily news cycle
Alistair Campbell has paid tribute to David Cameron’s laid-back approach to 24-hour news, with the man responsible for Tony Blair’s headlines conceding that New Labour spent too much time trying to dominate every news cycle.
The former communications chief and strategy guru said that when Blair came to power, the hour-by-hour media operation adopted in opposition should have been more strategic. “It was very hard to get out of the habit of campaigning. We could and should have done it differently more quickly,” he said.
Commenting on Cameron’s approach to news demands, Campbell commented: “My sense is that they take a more detached view of it – and I think if they’ve learnt that from the way we did, then I think they’ve learnt the right reason.”
Campbell did sound a cautionary note for the Prime Minister however over his communications chief Andy Caulson and the phone-hacking claims facing him. “It is a problem because it just appears not to be going away.”