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Alastair Campbell is not a man to shy away from a question, writes Gazette Editor Mark McDermott. The former Downing Street spin doctor spoke at length to Irish solicitors about Brexit, the recent referendum campaign, and its impact on Ireland at the recent Law Society Spring Gala.

In an exclusive interview with the Gazette, Campbell doubled down on his gloomy Brexit outlook – and explained why he’s still campaigning for a halt to the process. “I don’t think people in Britain have any idea as to the significance of Brexit for the people of Ireland – North and South – and I think that’s dangerous. I think these are really dangerous times,” he argues. “I still think it can be stopped… Ireland has a role to play in that.”

No surprises

From campaigning during the referendum, Campbell says, he wasn’t particularly surprised by the result. “As I was going around the country, the polls were saying one thing and the London political media bubble was saying the same thing. But I go out of London a lot – most weeks for football, home and away with Burnley FC. I go to Scotland a lot. And I just kept meeting too many people who were unpersuadable, who were telling me: ‘I don’t care what you say, I don’t care what the facts are. I’m voting out, I’ve had enough.’

“‘Had enough of what?’ I would ask. And then a lot of it was this stuff that just comes out in the papers: ‘bent bananas, barmy bureaucrats, all that sort of stuff’. And added to which they told a pack of lies very convincingly, not least about more money for the health service and all that. So I wasn’t totally surprised. No, I wasn’t.”

In the full interview, Campbell talks about solutions to the problems posed by Brexit, the Northern Ireland peace process, and much more.

• Read the full article in the April 2017 Gazette

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