Alastair Campbell’s account of the end of the New Labour era shows how things might have been different

The latest volume of diaries by Tony Blair’s spin doctor cover Gordon Brown’s time as prime minister, 2007-2010

Alastair Campbell had a ringside seat during the New Labour years (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)

Gordon Brown’s premiership ended only eight years ago, but it seems longer. Since the dramas recorded in these pages, not only has the opposition taken over government but the Labour Party has been transformed. Jeremy Corbyn is not mentioned once in this volume, the last of Alastair Campbell’s to cover Labour in power.

This is a portrait of a vanished world. One in which the court of New Labour dominated all. Everyone knew its time was coming to an end, and that power was ebbing towards the young princes, David Cameron and George Osborne. But in the meantime there was still a struggle between the ruling tribes of Brownites and Blairites, and endless plots to try to forestall the Conservative advance by replacing Brown with the Blairite young prince, David Miliband.

Campbell was at the heart of this drama, as Tony Blair’s former spin doctor who was now an adviser to Brown and a confidant of Miliband’s. Brown begged Campbell to work for him full time. “I can win an election,” Brown told him in May 2008. “But I know I can’t win it without you.” Campbell, worried about his mental health and his family, said he would help but only part time. A few weeks later Brown said: “I am at the end of my tether and I would give anything to get you involved.”