Campbell apologises for email gaffe
Downing Street’s former director of communications Alastair Campbell has apologised for an emailed attack upon the BBC.
Mr Campbell left the Government in the wake of the death of Dr David Kelly – and the ensuing row with the BBC. At the time, Mr Campbell said he feared he was becoming the story rather than the messenger.
After being exonerated by the Hutton Inquiry, Mr Campbell has since returned to the Labour Party machine to work on the general election campaign.
But on Tuesday, Mr Campbell mistakenly sent a strongly worded email to a journalist on the BBC’s Newsnight, attacking the programme’s coverage of two controversial posters.
One poster showed Michael Howard and Oliver Letwin as flying pigs and another showed a caricature of Mr Howard with a pocket watch that some critics claimed played to old stereotypes of Jews as moneylenders. Both the Conservative leader and the Shadow Chancellor are Jewish.
Labour played down the fuss, insisting that the ads weren’t anti-Jewish but were anti-Conservative.
The email from Mr Campbell followed a Newsnight investigation into allegations that advertising bosses were blaming Mr Campbell for the row.
In his email Mr Campbell ranted that the BBC should cover some ‘important’ news instead.
It was apparently intended for Andrew McGuinness at the advertising agency TBWA – who are behind the latest ads – but was sent in error to journalist Andrew McFadyen – due to a purported mix-up of surnames.
Mr Campbell downplayed the incident, saying it was all a “silly fuss”.
According to the BBC, the message read: “Just spoke to trev. think tbwa shd give statement to newsnight saying party and agency work together well and nobody here has spoken to standard. Posters done by by tbwa according to political brief. Now f*** off and cover something important you t***s!
Mr Campbell later sent a second email to Mr McFadyen pointing out the mistake – but suggested the journalist would see the funny side.
Conservative party co-chairman Liam Fox said Mr Campbell’s “official” return to Downing Street signified Tony Blair had reverted “to his old ways of spin and dirty tricks”.
