“I’m thrilled that Alastair is joining us. A brilliant, opinionated and compelling writer who has the ability to get straight to the heart of what matters, we’re delighted readers of the magazine will be able to enjoy his insightful and entertaining prose,” commented Dylan Jones.
Alastair Campbell added “To be frank, I did not think I was well dressed enough, or cool enough, ever to get approached by GQ, so I was quite surprised when Dylan Jones asked me to do this. But 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. When I was a full-time journalist, I always enjoyed big interviews and I am pleased GQ want me not just to do politics, but figures from sport, business, culture, other aspects of life that I find interesting. I also hope I can bring a bit of lefty influence to the magazine. There is something not quite right about having an editor who slopes off to write sympathetic books about David Cameron, and makes Benedict Cumberbatch the GQ man of the year. GQ should be the magazine for State schools, not Eton and Harrow. More anon.”
Alastair Campbell, communicator, writer and strategist, was formerly the Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair. Still active in politics in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, charitable fundraising, consultancy and campaigns. His first interview for GQ will appear in the May 2014 issue.
British GQ is in its 25th anniversary year, recently receiving the Digital Magazine of the Year 2013 (Men’s Lifestyle) in the Digital Magazine Awards, and Dylan Jones was awarded Editor of the Year at the BSME Awards, taking the number of awards won by the magazine to 48. British GQ has a combined print and digital circulation of 130,009 (ABC Jan-Jun 2013); readership is 398,000 (NRS Jul 2012-Jun 2013); unique users of the website total 1,037,909, with 10,714,796 page impressions (Google analytics Aug-Oct 2013), say the publishers.
