This Hour Has 22 Minutes publicity for the show and contributed to the general air of farce surrounding Day's election campaign. Day did, however, have a very appropriate response to the petition: ""Que será, será"." It was later revealed by Alastair Campbell, former aide to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that Prime Minister Jean Cretien and the Liberal Party had come up with the idea- not Mercer or the show's writers. 2003–04 – Shaun Majumder, in character as "Raj Binder", was sent to report on the 2003 outdoors Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens old timers game, preceding the night's actual NHL regular season game, which
Alastair Campbell Alastair Campbell". It is also widely believed that the character of Malcolm Tucker from the BBC political satire comedy "The Thick of It" is loosely based on Campbell. Tucker is famous for his short fuse and use of very strong language. In an interview with Mark Kermode on BBC2's "The Culture Show", Campbell denied that the two are similar in any relevant way, but admitted to his liberal use of profanities in the workplace. The interview descended into argument with Campbell accusing the likes of Mark Kermode and the show's creator Armando Iannucci of being responsible for people's cynicism with