"It's not a debating chamber, this is a show": Alastair Campbell on the Democratic National Convention
The former Tony Blair spin doctor turned podcast host discussed all things US election for a special collaboration with The News Agents.
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In brief…
- The Rest is Politics podcast host Alastair Campbell sits down with The News Agents’ Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall for the collab you’ve all been waiting for.
- Speaking from the conference hall at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, they discuss all things US election.
- Campbell tells The News Agents he wants Kamala in the White House, and what the similarities are between the Labour Party and the Democrats.
What’s the story?
Is this the collab you didn’t know you needed?
Alastair Campbell sat down with The News Agents’ Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall for a chat at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The former Labour Party spin doctor and The Rest is Politics podcast host discussed Labour’s similarities to Democrats and all things US election live from the conference hall.
‘It’s not a debating chamber, this is a show’
From the Obamas to Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, a whole list of Democrat top dogs have lit up the room with electrifying speeches in Chicago.
But have these speeches been a little light on policy debate?
This is what Jon put to Campbell, asking if there are any similarities between the DNC and party conferences in the UK.
Campbell says: “A lot of people in the UK complain there's no real debate at our party conferences anymore.”
But here in the US, the speeches are “choreographed, they form a story” and “there'll be another chapter of the story tonight. So I think you've got to slightly think of them differently.”, Campbell notes.
He adds: “The politics are just different. It's not a debating chamber. This is a show.”
How similar are Labour and the Democrats?
“I feel politically, totally at home here”, Tony Blair’s former head of communications tells Lewis and Jon.
But Lewis points out that “the Democrats have gone in a really, very substantially different direction by comparison to how Keir Starmer has governed the Labour Party”.
And that is, that Labour has shifted to the right, while the Democrats have moved to the left, according to Lewis.
So how closely aligned does Campbell feel the Labour Party and the Democrats really are?
He says: “Generally, I think people would say that the Democrat Party is to the right of the Labor Party on some big issues.
“When he [Biden] did these big ‘I'm proud to be the most pro union president ever’, I can't imagine Tony [Blair] having said that. I don't know whether Keir Starmer would say something like that.”
But Campbell argues that maybe distinguishing between left and right wing isn’t all that important.
“I don't think it’s to do with left and right. I think it's to do with conviction on principle, on positions that other people are going to find difficult. That's what I think you need in politics.”
How has Kamala Harris done and what should she do next?
“I think what matters is the message that comes out over the week. And thus far, I think they haven’t put a foot wrong”, Campbell says.
It comes after a rocky start for Harris as vice president, he points out.
Campbell says: “I think her team would accept her start wasn't the best. [She had] all sorts of issues, all sorts of problems, but I think that she's developed.”
“This is the great thing about politics. People change and people develop. And what you've seen, I think, is somebody really rising to the moment.”
In a sense, this has helped Harris, he argues.
Campbell adds: “Most vice presidents, they are playing very much second fiddle.
“I remember George Bush always used to say that he got to the top by being underestimated and I think there’s a little bit of that with her as well.”
How would Starmer and Harris get along?
For the US/UK’s so-called special relationship to work, personal relationships “will matter”, Campbell says.
But if Harris does win the election, he will be pleased.
“It will be great if you have Keir Starmer in Downing Street and Kamala in the White House".
But things have changed a bit since the Blair-Bush era when Campbell was in politics.
He says: “A lot of Britain's power in our relationship with the United States came from our power within Europe, and that's gone.
“I think it's a challenge to Keir Starmer to rebuild that, and it's definitely rebuildable.”