Burnley honour nothing to do with Alastair Campbell

Burnley Lancashire Named as Most Enterprising Area in the UK with VIP guest Alastair Campbell. Photo: Mark Waugh

It is a fitting tribute to the many go-ahead, energetic businesses in the area, ably encouraged by our MP Gordon Birtwistle.

However, I fail to see what the award has to do with Alastair Campbell, who is regularly trotted out for cheap publicity by papers, such as yours, and the BBC. Campbell’s claim to fame is as a supporter of Burnley FC. However, Burnley FC has many supporters and, as a far as I am aware, Campbell does not even live in the Burnley area.

Alastair Campbell was, of course, chief spin doctor and bag carrier to Tony Blair. We all know the mess Blair, Brown, Mandelson, Shaw etc left the country’s finances in, as we are still trying to recover.

Campbell should be remembered as the author of the dossier which was produced to encourage MPs to vote in favour of the illegal war in Iraq. We now know the dossier was a pack of lies and led to the deaths of many innocent Iraqis and members of our armed forces.

So please, next time Burnley does something to celebrate, do not give Alastair Campbell publicity as a spokesman for the town – he is not and does not deserve to be.

F.W. Birch

Kingsley Avenue

Padiham