Alastair Campbell got all high and mighty with Toby Young yesterday:

@toadmeister would you care to withdraw your libellous tweet claiming I leaked my Leveson statement, and apologise?—
Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) May 10, 2012

@toadmeister think if you are sensible you will just accept and apologise. My last word for now.—
Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) May 10, 2012

@campbellclaret Man of your exp must have known that if you circulated your statement to various journos beforehand it wld end up in press—
Toby Young (@toadmeister) May 10, 2012

@campbellclaret Seems like your definition of "leak" is narrower than mine — or, indeed, most people's—
Toby Young (@toadmeister) May 10, 2012

Campbell should not be so cocky about this, he is as he was forced to admit to Leveson, the original source of the leak if not the direct leaker to Guido. Given his job in government was effectively Leaker-in-Chief some may doubt his protestations. He should listen to himself on “The Case for Self-Doubt in Creativity” rather than be so sure…

Some of you more stuffy types might have missed the thinly veiled threat at the end of Trevor Kavanagh’s column in this morning’s Sun:

“ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, who once played the media like a fiddle, has the nerve to accuse the Press of being “putrid”. He is fortunate lobby journalists never reveal their sources. Otherwise a queue of hacks could reveal how Alastair routinely dripped poison into their ears about everyone – then swore them to secrecy. Luckily, some of us kept a diary.”

Campbell’s evidence last week went down like a cold cup of sick with hacks of a certain age. There is widespread irritation at being lectured by the man who is more responsible than most for the cynicism of the modern media in this country. Trevor Kavanagh got a kicking from Bad Al, but something tells Guido he will come to regret doing that. Word of these diaries is spreading like wildfire. There is talk of the dates, times and locations of meetings where Campbell “dripped poison”. Oh and Guido hopes the technologically advanced Lord Leveson has a tape player…

So after Guido having instructed solicitor Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave to formally submit a Witness Statement to Lord Justice Leveson, as so compelled under threat of imprisonment, Lord Justice Leveson now says he is discharging Guido from appearing tomorrow. Well Guido had a lot to say.

It is almost as if they are embarrassed at the string of cock-ups. First of all no crime has been committed. The evidence was not restricted until after it was published. Some might think that an inquiry into matters like press hacking and privacy should be careful to protect itself from press leaks.

Alastair Campbell went from “shocked” on Sunday at his draft evidence leaking to the media to explaining this morning that actually he had emailed his dodgy document to a few journalists, politicians and friends. How shocking to discover that there was no WMD it leaked.

So all that dark guff about the Leveson Inquiry’s computer security being compromised turned out to be rubbish and Alastair Campbell is shown to be a disingenuous manipulator, again. Oh, and under the terms of the Restriction Order Guido is not allowed to tell you what he was going to tell the judge in his Witness Statement tomorrow. Suffice to say Guido was refusing point blank to reveal his source’s name. Maybe Guido should just email it to a few close journalist friends…

UPDATE: Bad Al still complaining about headlines. Once a spin doctor…

Genuinely shocked someone has seen fit to leak my statement to Leveson. Less surprised that Guido Fawkes headline misrepresents it—
Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) November 27, 2011

The weekday lunchtime Boulton & Co news show has started this week, it has a lot of that U.S. style presenters walking around talking to each other stuff, news, interviews and a bit of chat. So far it has had no fireworks. The first reactions suggest that it could do with a bit more pace and excitement. That is what the producers must have in mind bringing Alastair onto the show with Adam this afternoon. Will it kick off again?

Will Adam miss the open-goal presented by Campbell now finally admitting he was behind the “psychologically flawed“ line about Brown that he denied over and over again. Will Adam hold him to account over his lying?

Bad Al Campbell blogs…

“Sometimes it can be really good fun being stared at as though you’re stark staring bonkers.”

Bad Al Campbell’s son Rory is, like many privileged Balliol Oxford* graduates before him, currently on a “gap yah” jaunt in Asia, doing what you do when you are young in Asia. Guido’s beach-dwelling-co-conspirator-in-a-smokey-haze reports Rory spends his days showing off his shaved legs to girls in the bars of Saigon. Apparently it helps the keen Oxford Blue cyclist perform better in his races.

A tip no doubt from his father, who would do anything to increase his rate of spin…

*Studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics

For those once great enemies, the BBC and Alastair Campbell have certainly settled their differences, and what’s more the Beeb seem almost hysterical about the launch of the latest edition of his diaries. When was the last time a book was publicised on every channel and radio station both locally and nationally with the author allowed unfettered readings and plugging?

“My voice is starting to go a bit already, having done breakfast telly and then 19 local and regional radio interviews, all in the interests of publicising a book which, if my twitter friends are anything to go by, is not in all the right places yet and has already sold out on Amazon ….”

It’s ridiculous that he is able to so brazenly use publicly funded outlets for his own commercial and political gain.

Alastair Campbell writes in his diaries that…

“Ed Balls spoke drivel, a never-ending collection of words that just ran into each other and became devoid of meaning.”

Bad Al Campbell is cock-a-hoop this morning, Downing Street refused to put up a minister against him on Question Time. Admittedly this is not a strategic error of the order of Suez, but it does provide comfort to a demoralised enemy.  Campbell feels all self-important and Downing Street looks scared, arrogant or amateurish depending on your viewpoint.

It might only be a Westminster Village story, but it seems like an unforced error.

Michael Howard shows how easy it is to effectively crush Campbell:

Ken Clarke could have done the job with ease…

UPDATE : In the comments most co-conspirators reckon Guido is wrong, typical comment (from Angelnstar)

Alastair Campbell is a discredited political figure who degrades debate. Why should anyone give this rubbishy person air time? He should be kicked off every programme, not just Question Time. …

Why should any sensible person have to waste time correcting his deluded spin, and sick fantasies, and why should they pander to his overdeveloped ego? If more people refused to appear with him, his TV time would be severely restricted. He is trash.

That may be true, nevertheless Bad Al was on television all the time during the general election and he probably cost Labour votes. He appeals to Labour’s activist headbangers and appals voters. Guido reckons the more voters see him, the more they remember why they dislike Labour…