Quotes by Alastair Campbell

“We don?t do God, I am sorry. - when asked by an American reporter about Tony Blair?s religious views”

“The reality is, there is no point denying this, that Tony has taken a big political hit as a result of what is perceived to be a strong relationship with President Bush.”

“time to move on and do other things.”

“A huge character, Gareth would bring a very different, perhaps more warlike approach,”

“He found it hilarious that some of the press - the more one-eyed of the NZ media - were blaming me for the second Test defeat.”

“It is going to need a lot of continuing work talking to the parties before we can get to the stage of a new round of intensive negotiations.”

“When your lordships carefully and critically examine the evidence, they will be driven by that to conclude that each of the accused is guilty of murder,”

“If its a fundamental principle, the length of the grass doesnt matter.”

“The EU is Russias largest trading partner, and we are increasingly interdependent. It is on our interest that we cooperate more on issues such as drugs, crime, terrorism, weapons of destruction and the Balkans.”

“He has said he is going to stay for a full term and I think it is absolutely right that he does that,”

May I share with you my earliest memory of a political row? It was with my mother, about the Queen - classic Freudian stuff, shrinks would say. I was eight, and refusing to watch the Queens Christmas Day broadcast.

So here is one of my theories on happiness: we cannot know if we have lived a truly happy life until the very end. This view of life and death was reinforced by my close witnessing of the buildup to the death of Philip Gould. Philip was without doubt my closest friend in politics. When he died, I felt like I had lost a limb.

Friends have suggested that I am the least qualified person to talk about happiness, because I am often down, and sometimes profoundly depressed. But I think thats where my qualification comes from. Because to know happiness, it helps to know unhappiness.