Alastair Campbell, former Downing Street director of communications and one of the architects of New Labour delivered the University's 2011 Baggs Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 12 July.
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Full transcript available
The ex-political editor and chief political columnist of the Daily Mirror is best known for his one-time role as spokesman, press secretary and strategic adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, having played a key role in shaping New Labour and returning the Party to power in 1997. He remains active in Labour politics today and is passionate about sport, fair access to education and charity.
In 2008 he broadcast an award-winning BBC documentary about the nervous breakdown he suffered in 1986 and he continues to campaign to break down the stigma around mental illness. He is also chair of fundraising for the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and earlier in the day he took a private tour of the University’s Centre for Clinical Haematology, headed by Professor Charlie Craddock.