No boozing - just spinning
As an ex-alcoholic, Alastair Campbell (AC) might be expected to have shown more than passing interest in the Government's licensing plans. Particularly when the detested Daily Mail was doing so much to rock the boat with its End-of-Civilisation-As-We-Know-It dirges in the early 2000s.
So Snifter was keen to get the inside track on what AC really thought of Tessa Jowell's and Kim Howell's not-always-adept handling of the 2003 Licensing Act.
Did he find senior licensing civil servant Andrew Cunningham's George Best cufflinks irritating (he supports Burnley) or endearing (Alex Ferguson is a big mate)?
What did he make of ex-politico Rob Hayward at the BBPA, or his nit-picking licensing guru Martin Rawlings?
Was Peter "******" Coulson high on his hit list? And did he confuse Robert Humphreys with a genuine MP, as everyone else seems to?
Sadly, we'll have to wait until AC's unexpurgated diaries appear - tales of licensing are totally absent from Campbell's 794-page tome.
The only reference at all to drunkenness and debauchery comes with 16-year-old Euan Blair's arrest in July 2000, when the lad was found in Leicester Square, vomiting as he lay on the ground.
Although Cabinet was discussing anti-hooligan legislation that day, Campbell was convinced the media would be sympathetic. Broadly, he was right.
The same day, a frazzled Blair was driving back from a speech at Brighton, and said he wanted to stop for a pint - "very rare," notes Campbell.
"The cops found a very nice little pub and the locals were gobsmacked, including a barman who was only there for the day.
"It was interesting to see how locals reacted. A couple in the corner, clearly having an illicit meeting, scarpered the minute we arrived."
It's a nice contrast with AC's only other mention of pubs - an occasion in April 1997 in Southampton, when he and Blair popped into a pub across the road from their hotel and were "harangued by a group of blokes who were the worse for wear. TB was a bit shaken."
Lord Irvine won't thank Campbell for diarising John Smith's views of his drinking habits. "Derry is living proof that excessive alcohol consumption doesn't affect the brain," Smith once told AC. "I'll drink to that," replies Derry.
The picture of Campbell emerging from his diary is unflattering, and often downright ugly. But in fairness, Snifter found him charming and amusing when sat next to him for the Britvic Food & Drink awards just after he'd resigned. Clearly, Campbell could just turn it on for the really big shots.
