August 31, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 2, 1424

LONDON: Alastair Campbell’s resignation robs British Prime Minister Tony Blair of his most trusted ally in the midst of political turmoil over Iraq, but offers the chance to shed a damaging reputation for media obsession.

Campbell, Blair’s chief “spin doctor” and an architect of the election landslide which swept the Labour Party to power after 18 years in the wilderness, was so influential that he was dubbed the “real deputy prime minister”.

The extent of his authority has been laid bare at an inquiry into the suicide of an arms expert which plunged Blair’s government into crisis, showing how closely he oversaw publication of a dossier on Iraqi weapons.

Television satires on the Campbell-Blair relationship carried sketches showing the abrasive former tabloid journalist running the show in Downing Street.

“His contribution to the Labour Party’s modernization, and electoral success, was enormous,” Blair said in a tribute to the man who many said helped extend the prime minister’s presidential-style authority over swathes of government.

Campbell’s resignation follows the departure two years ago of another top Blair adviser Anji Hunter and a series of close cabinet allies, including Peter Mandelson and Alan Milburn.

Another “Blairite” minister, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, is widely expected to end up a victim of the inquiry into the government’s handling of weapons expert David Kelly, source of a BBC report that Blair “sexed up” the threat posed by Iraq.

“It leaves the prime minister with a great gap in what had been a very effective praetorian guard around him,” former junior defence minister Peter Kilfoyle said. “Now he has lost the man who did so much to protect and project him”.

“CLIMBED THE LEARNING CURVE”: But analysts say Blair, hardened by six years in power, is better placed to survive without Campbell than during his early days in office.

“Four or five years ago, when Blair was still new, it would have been fatal,” pollster Peter Kellner said. “But he has climbed the learning curve.”

Evidence of that emerged last week at the inquiry, which heard Blair overruled plans by Campbell to leak news about Kelly’s meeting with the BBC to a newspaper.

Campbell said he was not indispensable. “This idea that the prime minister couldn’t cope without me or without anyone else is an absolute nonsense,” he said.

Campbell’s exit also offers Blair an opportunity to try to restore public trust eroded by the perception that he has prized presentation over substance during his six-year rule.

In opposition, Campbell’s ability to charm or bully a hostile British media into sympathetic coverage was central to Labour’s success. In government, the focus on media presentation, or spin, rapidly became a liability.

“The public had turned against spin. They don’t think Blair can be trusted,” Kellner said. “Campbell’s departure gives the opportunity both symbolically and realistically to change tack.”

Opposition Conservatives, enjoying a rare lead over Labour in opinion polls, crowed over the resignation of a man they regularly vilified. But observers say Blair’s opponents will soon miss their favourite whipping boy.

“I’m not sure if this is a good thing for the (Conservatives),” said Sheila Gunn, spokeswoman for former Conservative prime minister John Major. “Mention the word Alastair and MPs foam at the mouth”.

The battle to reverse Blair’s loss of trust, further battered by the inquiry, has become critical. A 1998 survey showed 74 per cent of voters trusted Blair. That has now shrunk to just 27 per cent.—Reuters