Alastair Campbell

So how did it feel?

It felt... I mean, I was stepping into one of the biggest jobs in British politics, and it was like...

It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

All the certainties, all the handrails, all the foundation stones that I thought were solid were wobbling.

And it became clear by the time I got back and for the first time, just going into party conference, it was really the first time I caught my breath.

So that beginning part of October, going into Conservative Party Conference, been Foreign Secretary for a month.

That whole month had just been turbulence.

Total, absolute, head-spinning turbulence.

And then we're at party conference.

And luckily, I was able to stand up and just give a speech on foreign affairs because I was foreign secretary.

And like, shit, keep my head below the parapet on that.

But just, it was impossible to understand what was going on.

So Boris could have been, again, you're not going to agree with this, Boris could have been an amazing prime minister.

Two things let him down.

I think he had people around him who did not have his best interests at heart and thought they could use him as an avatar for their ambitions.

Cummings.

Cummings and others, but mainly Cummings.

People have been doing this throughout Boris's career.

He got hit with the challenge of COVID, which was the...

This is exactly the wrong kind of emergency for Boris.