MAIL & GUARDIAN ONLINE: Alongside the Oscar-winning performance by Helen Mirren, The Queen included cameo performances depicting the relationship between Tony Blair and his then-trusted lieutenant, Alastair Campbell. Unlike Mirren’s character, they were hopelessly implausible for one simple reason -- the conspicuous absence of any profanity. British politicians have a great fondness for swearing -- perhaps, because it adds a streetwise edge to their persona.
In exactly a month Blair will have left 10 Downing Street and Campbell’s long-awaited diaries will have hit the bookshops. The big story in London this week has not been Blair’s grand African farewell tour, but the revelation that Campbell has bowed to pressure from his former boss and excised from his manuscript all of the Anglo-Saxon words beginning with F and C, to which Blair is so partial. Tony Blair’s world of good and evil (more) By Richard Calland
Mark Alexander
