Former Blair Aide Campbell Breaks Down In TV Interview

Former Tony Blair aide Alastair Campbell broke down on live television on Sunday as he defended the former British PM's  'honour' over the Iraq war.

In an extraordinary performance on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Campbell struggled to contain his emotions when it was put to him that Mr Blair had misled parliament about the case for war, reports The Mail, London

During several lengthy pauses, one lasting 15 seconds, the former Labour spin chief took a series of deep breaths while trying to compose himself.



Alastair Campbell suddenly stops during the interview and closes his eyes..



... he exhales and looks away from interviewer Andrew Marr....




...he goes silent for a while and then says 'I've been through a lot of this, Andrew...'

He cast his eyes to the ground, apparently trying to blink away tears. Mr Campbell complained that he had 'been through a lot' over Iraq and was upset by the 'constant vilification' of Mr Blair and himself.

His comments brought a sharp rebuke from the father of a British soldier killed in Iraq.

Reg Keys, whose son Tom died in June 2003, said Mr Campbell deserved criticism for his central role in the creation of the infamous 'dodgy dossier' in 2002 on Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, which helped propel Britain to war.

Mr Keys said: 'He reckons he's been through a lot? He hasn't even scratched the surface of what the families of British service personnel killed in Iraq have been through, or what the wounded who lost their limbs and eyesight are going through every day - they have got a lifetime of this ahead of them.

He played a top role in the deceit that took us to war. I hope he lies awake every night thinking about it. He deserves to be vilified for the role that he played.'

The clash with Mr Marr came as Mr Campbell was touring the television studios yesterday to promote his latest novel.

He later said he was upset when Mr Marr introduced him as talking about his 'new work of fiction', which he took as a barbed reference to the Iraq dossier. He told Sky News: 'I think sometimes the glib way in which people look at this issue, cover this issue, is upsetting.'

Mr Campbell has long been touchy about his role in the production of the Iraq dossier, which contained the now notorious claim that Iraq could hit British bases in Cyprus with weapons of mass destruction within 15 minutes of an order from Saddam Hussein.

In June 2003, when still director of government communications, he stormed on to Channel Four News during a live broadcast to denounce as a 'lie' a BBC report that the dossier had been 'sexed up'.

Last month Mr Campbell was accused of lying himself after he told the Iraq inquiry that he had sought to 'beef up' the contents of the dossier. In fact his own diaries show he 'bombarded' intelligence chiefs with at least 15 suggestions on the dossier.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, interviewed by Andrew Marr immediately after Mr Campbell, said: 'I am sorry that Alastair Campbell was upset to be asked questions about the inquiry.

'We are all upset by what happened in Iraq. I am very upset that it seems our soldiers were often sent into action without the necessary equipment because of poor political decision-making, that there was no plan for the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.'

Justice Secretary Jack Straw is expected to face further difficult questions about the legal case for the Iraq war when he is recalled to the inquiry today to explain his actions following criticism from his former chief legal adviser that he ignored advice that invading Iraq without UN backing would break international law.

Within an hour of his appearance on Andrew Marr's show, Campbell was on Sky New being in interviewed by Adam Boulton (below). When quizzed about his earlier show of emotion, he admitted Marr's questions had 'touched a nerve'

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