Alastair Campbell than any of the other films he made. Campbell attacked the news media for their obsession with him, and eventually began to pull back from frontline work and delegated direct briefing of the media to others, but, if anything, his profile continued to grow. He then moved to the post of Prime Minister's Director of Communications which gave him a strategic role in overseeing government communications. He was sponsored by US President George W. Bush to complete the London Marathon in aid of leukaemia research charity, Bloodwise. Campbell was part of Tony Blair's core team that conducted the negotiations that
BBC controversies television programme "Blue Peter", Richard Bacon, was in the headlines when it emerged he had taken cocaine. He was released from his BBC contract immediately. In May 2003, the defence correspondent of the BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme, Andrew Gilligan, quoted a government official who stated that the British government had "sexed up" a dossier concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, against the wishes of the intelligence services. A newspaper report claimed that Alastair Campbell (the Prime Minister's Director of Communications and Strategy), was responsible. The government strongly denied the claims and this prompted an investigation by parliament. A