Of course, no friendship is perfect. Their bond has been tested by massive disagreements. Campbell has been publicly critical of Blair’s post-9/11 foreign policy, especially the rush to war in Iraq. He’s written in his diaries about feeling “sick” over certain decisions. But here’s the thing: they’re still mates.
It’s like when your best friend makes a terrible decision about their new boyfriend or girlfriend. You can’t stand them, you tell them they’re an idiot, but you don’t stop being their friend. You just sigh, pour another glass of wine, and say, “I told you so” later, when it all goes pear-shaped. Campbell has done the public “I told you so”—but he’s still at the pub with Blair.
Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell on how a pig attack at a
Think about your own life. Who have you known for twenty-odd years? The friend who helped you move house, who saw you cry after a breakup, who keeps that one embarrassing photo of you from 1999? That’s Blair and Campbell. The stakes are just higher—instead of a lost job, it’s a lost election; instead of a messy divorce, it’s a messy military intervention.
The Verdict: Slightly Broken, But Not Bent
So, are they friends? Of course they are. It’s not the kind of friendship that appears on a Hallmark card. It’s the messy, loyal, argumentative, “I’ll kill you but not today” kind. It’s the friendship of two blokes who have seen each other at their absolute worst—and still decided to share a bottle of wine the next day.
They are a testament to the fact that you don’t have to agree on everything to be thick as thieves. You just have to have survived the trenches together. In a world where politicians often seem like robots reading off a script, their relationship feels refreshingly human. They argue like an old married couple, but they’re clearly stuck with each other for life.
So next time you have a heated disagreement with your own best mate about something trivial—like where to order pizza or who forgot to buy the beer—remember Tony and Alastair. If they can still be friends after the Iraq War and a thousand spin sessions, you can forgive your mate for leaving the loo seat up. Some friendships are tested by fire; theirs just happened to be tested by a full-blown political inferno. And they’re still standing, pint in hand, arguing about the good old days.
