Clamour mounts for Campbell to resign over funeral row

It's sobering to think that a decade ago Alastair Campbell, then the political editor of the Daily Mirror, was covering another government engulfed in another crisis.

At that time, the issue was the future of the British economy and the value of sterling. Not even a crazy rise in interest rates could prevent it from falling through the floor, precipitating the UK's departure from the European exchange- rate mechanism.

Today, the issue galvanising Westminster and dominating the headlines is a dispute about the exact prominence that the Prime Minister of the country did, or didn't, seek during a royal funeral. And Alastair Campbell is at the centre of it.

The contrast between the two issues – one of which profoundly affected every citizen of the country, and the other of which affected almost no one – doesn't mean, of course, that the second is of no importance.

It has raised real questions about the style of government, the nature of political opposition, and the ever-increasing complexity of the relationship between a Labour Prime Minister and the press. But it is a reminder, if one were needed, of how much the nation's political discourse has changed in the past 10 years.

Which doesn't alter the fact that the political clamour for Mr Campbell to go is mounting, though there is no sign at present that either he or Mr Blair propose to surrender to it.

As it happens, Mr Campbell began to contemplate life after Number 10 at about the time of the 2001 election; he also saw that some of the obsessions with media presentation that had so dominated the Government in its first term would have to change in the second. If there was going to be a good time to go, it might have been then. But Mr Blair was – and is – in no mood to part with his closest lieutenant and strategist.

Now the circumstances have changed. It is much less likely to happen now, precisely because Mr Blair's enemies are calling for it. At a time when much of the onslaught on the Government is led by the Tory press rather than the Tory Party, and is based on personalities rather than policy, Mr Campbell and his boss are certain to see any thoughts of his resignation as a surrender.

The mood in Downing Street is combative. It's even possible, if Black Rod's version to the Press Complaints Commission of his conversations with Number 10 about the funeral is published this weekend, that Downing Street will produce its own evidence at some point.

In toughing out the outcry, Mr Campbell benefits from being recognised by the party as a Labour man through and through, unlike some of those who have advised Mr Blair from time to time.

There were signs last night that the tribe was rallying round him despite Lord Hattersley's call for him to go. Gwyneth Dunwoody, a harsh critic of the Government, nevertheless spoke out for Mr Campbell yesterday. Ann Clwyd and Alice Mahon were among MPs who rang him to offer support.

The decision to go to the Press Complaints Commission was almost certainly as much the Prime Minister's as it was Mr Campbell's – though Mr Campbell strongly backed it. He was understandably fortified by the statement issued by Black Rod, otherwise known as Sir Michael Willcocks, in early April. When asked to brief Number 10 on the funeral arrangements, Sir Michael said, "at no stage was I ever asked to change the arrangements".

Whether or not Black Rod was the source of the story in The Mail on Sunday – as Stephen Glover, who is also a Mail columnist, asserts in the current issue of The Spectator – he clearly had a great deal more to say by the time the commission began its probe.

In hindsight, the decision to go to the commission was a risky mistake. It was always possible, as Downing Street was forced to acknowledge yesterday, that there had been a "misunderstanding" between the two offices.

This could have been the case even if the main Number 10 official involved, Clare Sumner, was scrupulous in seeking information about, rather than changes to, the funeral procedure. There have been other errors. It was – to say the least – unfortunate that another media commentator, Roy Greenslade, who is close to Mr Campbell, chose to launch an unbridled personal attack on Peter Oborne, a journalist who wrote one of the stories, before the commission had reported.

But the determined mood in Downing Street also implies a belief that the attacks on Mr Campbell are attacks on Mr Blair. This does not mean that the Government will not have to change its approach, as the Prime Minister's decision to hold regular press conferences appears to recognise. It will have to trust the electorate much more if reciprocal trust is to be restored.

It has relied far too often on techniques of mass psychology and manipulation – not least, ironically, through the press – as if the electorate can't be relied upon to assess a government without assistance. But if that change is going to happen, it looks as if it will happen with Mr Campbell and not without him.

Black Rod affair: the players

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
The Prime Minister's director of communications and strategy took up his new job last year but had already stepped back from the limelight of the daily lobby briefings early in 2001. A former political editor of the Daily Mirror and a close friend of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, he strongly backed the Prime Minister's decision to go to the Press Complaints Commission over the royal funeral controversy.

PETER OBORNE
Cricket-loving and tweed-wearing political editor of The Spectator magazine and author of a biography of Alastair Campbell. He accused the Prime Minister of trying to "muscle in" on the Queen Mother's lying-in-state. Formerly an Evening Standard reporter and Sunday Express columnist, he is compiling a pamphlet listing government "lies".

CLARE SUMNER
A junior private secretary in Mr Blair's private office, Ms Sumner, 29, is a rapidly rising civil servant who telephoned Black Rod's office to check arrangements for the lying-in-state. Her job includes taking private notes during the Prime Minister's most sensitive conversations. A key witness in the internal government inquiry into the Hinduja passports affair.

LT-GEN SIR MICHAEL WILLCOCKS
The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, to give him his formal title, has served two stints as head of operations of the Nato peace-keeping force in Bosnia. Served in Borneo in the 1960s and has written a book on armoured warfare. He is at the centre of the royal funeral row, issuing a statement in April saying "at no stage was I ever asked to change the arrangements".