Archived entries for Alastair Campbell

Labour must ‘do God’

Despite the important role that it has played throughout the party’s history, Labour has long had an uncomfortable relationship with faith. Alistair Campbell captured this well when he famously said of New Labour, “we don’t do God.” Of course the Blair governments promoted faith in a variety of ways. But that comment stuck in the public mind because it represented a fundamental truth not only about the Labour Party but also about the country more widely. We are deeply divided in our attitudes towards religion. Some view it as vital, others as dangerous, many as simply irrelevant. But has the time come to reject Campbell’s cynicism and openly ‘do God’?

In the latest edition of the Young Fabian’s magazine Anticipations former Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a powerful case for us to do just that. He argues that in the face of long held predictions about the demise of religion, the number of people who view faith as a central part of their identity is in fact growing. Much has been made of the continuing importance of faith in the United States but less discussed is its growth in the world’s emerging superpower, China. Blair offers some staggering statistics. There are more Muslims in China than in Europe, more practicing Protestants than in England and more practicing Catholics than in Italy. Faith is a central part of life in the Arab world too and whereas Europe’s birth rate is stagnant, the Arab population is set to double in the coming decades. The message from these statistics is clear. Far from being in decline, faith has rarely been more influential.

Of course the influence of religion is not only confined to the world beyond our borders. Many of the most challenging issues that we face in this country have a religious dimension. Tackling terrorism requires not only security measures but also powerful theological arguments. By vacating this space in the name of secularism, policy makers risk leaving a vacuum that can be exploited by those with malign intentions. But more than that, these debates go to the very heart of how we see ourselves. Do we adopt an aggressive form of secularism like France and risk undermining our own commitment to tolerance while alienating the very people we need to engage? Or do we find a way of balancing the values we hold dear with those practices, such as the wearing of the hijab and nighab, that can feel uncomfortable and foreign. The perceived tension between feminism and Islam is the topic of a fascinating piece in this edition by Muslim Women’s Network Chair Baroness Afshar.

But faith shouldn’t simply be confined to so called ‘religious issues’. It has much to say about the economic and social challenges of the day. Both Labour and the coalition have been working hard to address a widely held view that the bonds within and between communities have grown increasingly weak. As the Archbishop of Canterbury powerfully outlines, these issues have been a key focus of Christianity from its very inception. In our efforts to strengthen civil society it is vitally important that we learn from many of our most powerful and long-lasting civic institutions – those of faith.

Religion also has an important contribution to make when it comes to learning lessons from the recent financial crisis. As Rabbi Jeremy Gordon argues, Judaism offers important insights into how to better scrutinise our banks, set our taxes and ultimately structure our economy. As we look to build a fairer economic model out of the ashes of the financial crisis we could do worse than reflect on the views of our faith leaders.

Of course there are challenges when it comes to faith and it would be wrong to imply that religion cannot bring with it conflict and suffering. However, it is such a central part of the way society functions both at home and abroad that it simply can’t be ignored. In many ways religion continues to define our lives and it is vital that our politics and our policy reflects that. In that sense, at least, we must all ‘do God.’

James Green is Editor of Anticipations.

GUEST POST: Alastair Campbell on mental health

Alastair Campbell is the former Communications Director at No 10. Here he writes about his mental health problems and his decision to speak openly about them.

When I started working as Tony Blair’s press secretary, I knew that the ‘skeletons’ would probably come out, so I never hid the fact I’d had a nervous breakdown. I’d always been very open about it, calling it my ‘mad period’. There’s no point pretending I wasn’t mad, because I was, probably for some time up to my breakdown, and then it took quite a while to recover. I think people are disarmed when you’re up front about it.

It happened in 1986 when I was 29. I was doing a piece on Neil Kinnock in Scotland, and ended up being arrested for my own safety. After a spell in hospital, I slowly rebuilt myself with help from family and friends, and a wonderful GP. Although I might have a few grounds for complaint about the way the media have reported on me on a few occasions, I feel in relation to mental illness, I have had a pretty fair deal from them. Not everyone can say that of course. The constant linking between mental illness and violence in the media is a problem .. the mentally ill are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence.

I do understand people’s reservations about being open. People worry their job or their prospects might be badly affected. And it would take quite a brave politician to stand up at election time and say oh by the way, I sometimes hear voices, or I tend to get addicted to things, or I may sometimes go missing with depression. But I do think it would help if people in positions of leadership and authority were more open. When I first got involved with the Time to Change campaign, we did a report called ‘A World Without’ in which we focussed on great historical figures who had what today would be defined as mental illnesses. Churchill with his black dog. Abraham Lincoln was routinely described as melancholic. Marie Curie. Charles Darwin. Florence Nightingale. Imagine if any of those people had not been able to do the work they did. But even today people with mental health problems will tell you that sometimes the stigma and the discrimination it leads to are worse than the symptoms.

One of the reasons I’ve wanted to be open about it is that I know from my own recovery that it is possible to take strength and hope from the experience of others who’ve gone to what feels like hell and back and lived to tell the tale. I have written a novel, All In The Mind, based in part on my experiences of depression and psychosis, and have also done a documentary, Cracking Up, which can be seen on my website and I have been really pleased with the response to both. Barely a day has passed since when someone has not come up to me and said that something that happened to me, or one of the characters in the book, was something they could relate to directly because of their own experience, or that of a relative or friend. If it is true that One in Four will directly suffer a mental health problem, that means we all know someone who will, even if we don’t ourselves. If anything I think One in Four is an underestimate.

I think attitudes are changing slowly and I hope I have been able to help in that. I am very glad that the Young Fabians have decided to take up this topic. I know that a lot of young people are struggling with mental health issues, and although my advice to them would be to be open and honest, the truth is stigma and discrimination still exist, and openness might be the thing that leads to someone being rejected. But I still feel it is the best approach. We need to get to a situation where people can feel as open about saying they have mental health issues as they are about saying they have cancer or a broken leg. We are a long way off that, but I am confident that one day we will get there. It is in many ways the last great taboo. But racism, sexism, homophobia have all been challenged and to a great extent eroded because of people taking up the issues and campaigning on them.

We can do the same for the stigma and taboo surrounding mental illness, and I wish Good Luck to the Young Fabians in their role in that great cause.

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