Alastair Campbell has spoken to students at the University of Stirling, calling on them to take political action and saying that it will be the only way to tackle the deep sense of powerlessness and frustration that exists across the UK today.
Speaking to a packed out auditorium, Mr Campbell said that today’s young people were the most socially conscious in history, but the least engaged on a civic level. He called on the students in the audience to take action and drive change. Without this, he said, political change would never be possible unless individuals were willing to put themselves on the line and stand up to become represented and active within the sphere of politics, driving true and meaningful change through their energy, intellect and efforts.
A powerful speaker
Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair’s communications advisor when Labour ran the country and his famous candour was well received by his audience. His speech was followed by a broad Q&A that spanned everything from religion to Brexit. Mr Campbell spoke easily and freely to students, encouraging them to engage with the system, formally take part in politics and consider careers as represented politicians, rather than relying on social media to share views.
Offering openness and challenge when speaking to the audience, he said that protest was a good thing and that people power was essential. But, he cautioned, today’s political climate needs individuals with courage, intelligence, ideas and energy to take the step and enter politics fully. Without this, he said the danger would be an ‘ever-narrowing gene pool’ of politicians with the attendant risks of ‘mavericks, incompetents and fanatics’.
The Williamson Lecture
The Williamson Lecture at Stirling University has been held for 36 years. It was set up in memory of a student who was killed in a car crash and funded by his parents to bring a high-profile speaker to Stirling each year to speak about contemporary politics to the students.
Mr Campbell is now a high-profile campaigner for mental health, author, podcaster and strategist. He has spoken about his own mental health issues and the barriers that these problems create for people trying to drive change, by engendering feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. You can find more from Mr Campbell here: www.theneweuropean.co.uk/contributor/alastair-campbell.
Previous speakers at the lecture have included Dame Anne Glover, Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson.
