reading Alastair Campbell's diaries. Here are some things I've noticed so far:
- there is brief entry on May 12: "TB and I discussed the need for a proper plan and strategy re the Bank Of England. He was sure independence was the answer." Its inclusion seems to designed to let people know that GB's post-election masterstroke wasn't all GB's work.
- it's written almost entirely in the past tense (eg the above..."he was" instead of "he is..."), which means you lose a little of the urgency you can get from diaries like this. But if that's the way he wrote it that's the way he wrote it.
- there's an extraordinary account of a fist fight between a very upset Peter Mandelson and Campbell, with Blair having to move in and break them up, on page 45.
- TB comes across as a much more intense, fretting, anxious and occasionally angry figure than he does in public.
- there is a timely reminder of how TB and co.'s focus in opposition was different from David Cameron's: "TB was pushing for the policy debate to be quickened...it was not enough to say the Tories were useless and TB was an attractive new leader."
