Entertainment
Good Morning Britain: Who is Alastair Campbell as he fills Piers Morgan’s seat?
Last month, it was announced that Alastair Campbell would be filling Piers Morgan’s seat on Good Morning Britain following the TV presenter’s dramatic exit from the ITV programme in March.
Alastair will be joining the show as a guest host alongside Susanna Reid, presenting on weekdays throughout Mental Health Awareness Week, which is taking place this year from Monday May 10 until Sunday May 16.
In a tweet shared ahead of the temporary role, Alastair insisted that he is ‘not the new Piers Morgan’, who is rumoured to be joining GB News.
So who is Alastair, what else has he done in his career and is he married?
Who is Alastair Campbell?
Alastair has led an extremely varied career, working as a journalist, author and broadcaster, in addition to working within politics and promoting several mental health charities.
From 1994 until 1997, he was the spokesperson and campaign director for Tony Blair, who served as prime minister as leader of the Labour Party for a decade from 1997.
Alastair then became the press secretary for Downing Street and the official spokesperson for the prime minister, going on to later take on the role of director of communications for Downing Street and spokesperson for the Labour Party.
What else has Alastair Campbell done?
Alastair is currently the editor-at-large for The New European, a weekly newspaper that launched in 2016 in response to the EU referendum.
He also conducts interviews with a variety of high-profile individuals for GQ magazine, some of his most recent subjects including Sadiq Khan, Gary Linekar and Sir Mo Farah.
Joining GMB isn’t the first time Alastair has filled Piers’ shoes, as he did the same when he joined GQ in 2014.
‘I like the fact that GQ has a tradition of giving a lot of space to big interviews, and to letting the interviewee get their voice heard, so after making a few stipulations – like never describing me, verbally or in print, as Piers Morgan’s successor – I said yes,’ he said at the time.
Alastair has written a number of books, including The Blair Years, published in 2008, his debut novel All in the Mind, which came out in the same year, and his 2012 book The Happy Depressive: In Pursuit of Personal and Political Happiness.
How old is Alastair Campbell?
Alastair is 63 years old.
He was born on May 25 1957 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Donald, who had a veterinary practice, and Elizabeth.
Alastair grew up with three siblings – his two older brothers, Donald and Graeme, and his younger sister Elizabeth.
In 2016, his brother Donald, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, died at the age of 62.
Is Alastair Campbell married?
In March 2021, Alastair and journalist Fiona Millar entered into a civil partnership, having been together for over 40 years.
Alastair celebrated the occasion on Twitter with a series of photographs from the ceremony, writing: ‘After 42 years together we thought we would try and make a go of it! Well done @schooltruth and @EqualCPs campaigners who made this possible. #civilpartnership.’
Alastair met Fiona when he was 21 years old, when they were both working at the Tavistock Times as part of the Mirror training scheme.
In an interview with The Guardian in 2012, he said: ‘We’ve never married. To me, marriage is partly a religious thing and I’m not religious. With Fiona, it’s more about the feminist thing. But there have been times when we’ve thought about it, and Grace [their daughter] is quite keen. Who knows?’
The couple have three children – two sons, Rory and Callum, and their daughter Grace.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
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