Alastair Campbell’s diary: The door that leads back to the EU is finally open. Now let’s walk through it

Of course the biggest reasons for the shift are the economy-shrinking, trade-undermining, rights-losing facts, which so powerfully spell out the scale of the mistake the country made in cutting ourselves off from our nearest and biggest trading partner. But with neither the Tories when in power, nor Labour from 2024 up to now, wanting to spell out the truth, there were very few in the media prepared to keep calling out Brexit for the disaster it has been. For 500 editions, we have done so.

A few weeks ago, I said that my optimal outcome for the European question was that a Labour government had the confidence to fight an election on a promise to seek entry to the EU, and persuade the country that in our parliamentary democracy, this, rather than a referendum, was the way to make this decision. That might be too much, even for someone showing the kind of boldness Burnham is clearly intent upon.

But whatever the route, for those of us who have never stopped believing that Britain’s future is as a strong and leading European nation, at least the possibilities of a new journey are opening, and, thanks to the move Burnham made last week, my idea does not sound as outlandish as when I first articulated it.

Note that I have not used the word “rejoin”. The European Union of which I would like us to be a part will be very different to the one we left. I would love to see it bigger, with new members from the Balkans to Scandinavia, and of course Ukraine.

The EU itself does need reform to regain its own confidence, which was dented by our departure, and become more competitive in the face of a more assertive China and a less reliable USA. What Burnham has done is insert us into that debate too. 

It was fascinating that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was one of the first to comment on the audacity of what the UK PM had done. Hopefully it will make the French less difficult in the current negotiations over the EU’s Made in Europe proposals. On verra.

Burnham has opened the door to political risk for himself, for sure, but enormous possibilities for the rest of us.

The day after getting back from Labour’s conference, another little milestone… I visited my publisher to pick up the first printed copy of my new book, Persevilience. And if the Europe debate develops as I, and I imagine many of you, hope that it does, then perhaps the Brexit recovery story will be added in future editions to my examples of this new, acceptable P-word.

The back cover sets out how, one day, I would like to see the word defined in the Oxford English Dictionary: “Persevilience (noun): the ability of an individual, group or organisation to turn any situation, setback or meaningful experience into a positive opportunity to grow, to advance and secure their core interests and beliefs.”

Suggested Reading

We waited 500 editions for this speech

Matt Kelly

That is what the People’s Vote campaign tried to do, and failed. It is what Matt Kelly did, in starting TNW. It is what Andy Burnham showed in the way he became Labour leader and prime minister. It is now what the country needs to develop… get good out of the bad that Brexit represents.

Matt and I will be able to celebrate our various milestones next weekend, when I will be at his house, signing a vanload of copies of Persevilience, which will be given to new subscribers of The New World for the next chapter of our campaign to help Britain see sense and put behind us the mayhem that David Cameron’s referendum, Johnson’s lies, and Farage’s opportunistic grifting have inflicted upon us.

My first business event post-Liverpool was at an insurance industry conference, where I asked the audience to predict the outcome of the next election. I gave them five options; a Labour majority; a Labour-led coalition; a Tory majority; a Tory-led coalition; Farage as PM, either solo or as leader of a right wing coalition.

Most went either for a Labour majority or, by a slightly larger margin, a Labour-led coalition. There were a couple of people who thought the Tories would be back. 

Not one single person thought Farage would win. This was far from the case a few months ago, and suggests both that the corruption stuff is catching up with him, and that Burnham has made a difference to people’s sense of Labour’s prospects. 

By-election campaigning is hard enough at the best of times, and I am not sure these are the best of times for Zack Polanski’s campaign to replace Keir Starmer as MP for Holborn and St Pancras this week. I could be wrong, but I think he chose the wrong seat. 

However, I really did feel sorry for the Green Party activist who came to collect her bike after a long session of door knocking and canvassing close to where I live. The bike was chained outside Rosella’s restaurant in Kentish Town, where my daughter Grace and I were having dinner, sitting outside in the awful, climate-crisis, early October evening heat. 

Suggested Reading

Unserious and down in the polls: Zack Polanski doesn’t look up to the job

Marie Le Conte

As she tried to unlock her bike, it became clear that someone else had locked their own bike to the same rail, but thrown the chain around the activist’s bike too, rendering it unmoveable. Efforts to find the owner went nowhere, and the poor young woman swore a lot less than I would have done as she headed off, on foot, into the night.

It is hard to overstate the potential consequences of the Manchester City scandal, for the club, for other clubs, for the Premier League, and for the sport as a whole. Added to which, there is now also a political angle, given that Andy Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester for much of the time City were becoming a big part of the Manchester success story; and a diplomatic angle, with the United Arab Emirati ownership so close to the UAE government.

With the international break now over, City’s first game, after being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of financial rules, is away at Liverpool, whose fans will doubtless treat us to new songs with the word CHEAT in them. 

As they continue to maintain their innocence, and a doubtless painfully slow appeal process unfolds, a very weird season lies ahead… Manchester City are currently at 5-1 on the betting markets to win the Premier League, and 13/8 to get relegated from it. Funny old game.