Alastair Campbell
For ten years Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's right-hand man as communications strategist and chief spokesman, often witnessing history in the making. He has remained an influential voice and commentator on the political stage, particularly through co-hosting the hit podcast The Rest is Politics with Rory Stewart, where they tackle the latest developments in global politics and share their insights into the complex relationships within Parliament. He expanded on these insights in his Sunday Times Bestseller But What Can I Do? Why Politics Has Gone So Wrong, and How You Can Help Fix It.
In the years running up to Labour's 1997 landslide win, and throughout their time in power, Alastair led communications strategy and was also no stranger to controversy. He is one of four figures credited with creating the New Labour project, fighting numerous battles in their pursuit of modernisation, including with how the media portrayed the party. He was reviled by some parts of the media but still respected for his commitment, creativity, loyalty, and work rate.
After leaving frontline, politics Alastair has written seventeen books, including ten volumes of diaries, four novels, a number one best-selling analysis of what it takes to win in politics, business, and sport, and two personal memoirs on depression and the pursuit of happiness.
He has been candid about his personal experiences of depression, alcoholism, and mental illness, frequently examining the links between work, stress, and mental health - a subject he's tackled in numerous interviews, documentaries, and podcasts, and in his books Living Better: How I Learned to Survive Depression, The Happy Depressive: In Pursuit of Personal and Political Happiness, and Living Better: How I Learned to Survive Depression. He has brought this experience to charity work (as both an advisor and a fund-raiser), and espouses the belief we should be as open about our mental health as we are about our physical health, and that every business should have first Mental Health First Aid training.
With humour and insight Alastair takes an insider’s look at politics at home and abroad, as well as what it takes to be a successful leader (a subject he tackled in his book Winners: And How They Succeed). He also tackles reputation, his own and how others manage theirs, the media and mental health.
Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart has been an academic, writer, adventurer, politician, and diplomat. After time in the Army and the diplomatic service, he trekked across Afghanistan, was appointed a fellow at Harvard, and wrote a number of books before entering Parliament, where he served as a Minister and ran for Party Leader.
He now co-hosts The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell, where, together, they disagree agreeably on global politics and the inner workings of Parliament from across the political divide. They also co-host the podcast Leading, where they interrogate, converse with, and interview some of the world's biggest names, from inside and outside of politics, about life, leadership, or leading the way in their chosen field.
After University, Rory served briefly as an Army officer before joining the Diplomatic Service with posts in Indonesia and as the British Representative in Montenegro in the wake of the Kosovo conflict. He then spent two years walking six thousand miles across rural Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Nepal. His walk across Afghanistan shortly after the US invasion is described in his award-winning book, The Places In Between.
Rory was then appointed Deputy Governor of two provinces (Maysan and Dhi Qar) in Southern Iraq. His responsibilities included organising elections, resolving disputes, and implementing development projects.
He also met growing civil discontentment with the allied occupation and faced a siege of his compound. His experiences in Iraq were documented in his book, The Prince of the Marshes - And Other Occupational Hazards of A Year in Iraq.
Having established a charity in Kabul and worked as a Professor of Human Rights at Harvard, Rory returned to the UK where he was elected as an MP. In Parliament he chaired the Defence Select Committee and held ministerial posts responsible for international development and prisons, before becoming Secretary of State for International Development.
When Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister, Rory entered the race to succeed her, gaining unexpected levels of support within the party, and winning over many non-Conservatives with his common sense, conciliatory tone.
He is also the co-author of Can Intervention Work? which examines the effects of political and military intervention on international affairs, human rights and how we understand nation building. In his memoir Politics On the Edge: A Memoir from Within, Rory reveals the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life.
Rory is president of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that lets donors send money directly to the world’s poorest households. The organisation has operations in DRC, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Turkey, Uganda, USA, and Yemen.
