Alastair Campbell on drinking & Bertie Ahern

As Tony Blair's Media Advisor, Alastair Campbell was one of the key figures in British political life for over a decade. Today, he is a writer, a filmmaker, a public speaker, a controversialist – and a self-declared alcoholic.

Now, in a probing interview conducted by Olaf Tyaransen, Campbell talks honestly about his arrest by the Special Branch and his addictive personality, including his struggle with alcohol, but reveals why he stayed away from drugs.

"People knew that I was a heavy drinker and that's what I did," admits Campbell. "Drink was my drug," he says.

Campbell also tells Hot Press why he doesn't like the treatment Bertie Ahern receives in Ireland.

"I don't like seeing the way that Bertie [Ahern] gets hammered here," Campbell says.

Discussing life in Labour, he says there were times when it felt the entire cabinet seemed to be rowing, at one point admitting that Peter Mandelson threw a punch.

Bill Clinton, Julian Assange, and whether there is a realJames Bond, are all on the agenda in the HP interview.

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