Pointlessly combative

Here's a laugh.

Not such a lovely bloke | Review | Guardian Unlimited Books: "It's hard, of course, to keep an altogether straight face while reading such an apologia, and anyone who has ever bumped into the man whom Charles Moore memorably described as 'the most pointlessly combative person in human history' is going to pick this book up with an outsize pair of tongs, wondering at exactly what level of honesty it is meant to be operating. Campbell does self-doubt in the same way that Nixon did repentance and Clinton contrition. Campbell himself has damaged his own claims to authenticity by admitting to excising from publication anything that might either advance the cause of the Conservative party or damage the standing of the new prime minister. The account of the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq is so gappy as to be historically valueless."

The levels of honesty are many. The impression of unvarnished, first-hand is probably accurate; but the facts are obviously not all there and the judgements are all over the place.

The main illusion is that Campbell manipulated the media. What really happened was Blair and Brown did a deal (tacit, explicit?) with Murdoch and got the Sun off Labour's back and onside by handing Murdoch most of what he wanted in terms of regulation and policy.