Word: britain
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...Barnum could sell tickets to see this, one of the biggest, fiercest beasts ever to roam Britain's political jungle, up close and unconfined in a north London garden. As Tony Blair's director of communications and strategy, and for years his most trusted adviser, Alastair Campbell stalked the corridors of Westminster, commanding fear and demanding respect. His influence was immense, shaping Blair's political project to reform the Labour Party and ensuring its success. He was eyewitness to crucial decisions in foreign policy and a catalyst in others, treating world leaders with the bruising directness he meted...
...answer, they agreed, was to woo over a hostile media. In the 1980s, Britain's press barons fervently backed Margaret Thatcher and they continued their support for her successor, John Major, when he moved into 10 Downing Street in 1990. Their reporters gave his Labour challenger, Neil Kinnock, short shrift. On the eve of the 1992 election, the country's biggest tabloid, the Sun, printed a stark message on its front page: IF KINNOCK WINS TODAY WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE BRITAIN PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS...
...head or holding a guitar. It took a long time to discover that it was more about presentation than content." This discovery provoked a backlash, but Snow thinks that's unfair. "People condemn Campbell and Blair for a wasted opportunity," he says, "but they underestimate how badly Britain needed them. Britain was a gray, disappointed, depressed place. Campbell and Blair created the most incredible uplift." The press secretary's style, however - viciously witty, combative - and a habit of playing competing media organizations off against each other quickly earned him enemies in the press corps. He diverted bolts of anger away...
...ministers in Brussels on Monday, that forum declared its support for Strauss-Kahn to replace current IMF director general, Spaniard Rodrigo Rato, who steps down in October. That would appear to make Strauss-Kahn a lock for the job, although not if developing nations - emboldened by recent grumblings from Britain - propose a strong alternative candidate. In going to bat for the former Socialist Finance Minister who oversaw France's last big economic and employment boom in the late 1990s, however, Sarkozy gives little sign he's ready to foreswear the European grip on the position for the sake of greater...
...Blair got on famously well with President Bill Clinton, but the diaries also chart battles over Kosovo when Britain chafed at U.S. reluctance to commit ground forces to the conflict. "There were times that Tony and Alastair forgot the relative size and importance of the two countries," says a former U.S. official. "It was all well and good for Britain to offer up ground troops, but that was only going to happen if America was going to do so, too." During one angry call to Blair, Clinton accused Campbell of briefing against him. The row blew over and Campbell remains...