Alastair Campbell, former Labour spin doctor, entertained the audience at The Rest is Politics live podcast in Glasgow on Saturday night by exposing one of his more crazy ideas from his time at Downing Street.
According to the Press Gazette, the podcast received 21.6 million views during the election campaign period of May 22 to July 5, making it the most popular political podcast available.
The CeltsAreHere writers were in the crowd as the pair enjoyed a rather casual conversation in the first half before taking audience questions in the second half.
Because they were in Glasgow, they chose to discuss one of Campbell’s key proposals when advising the Labour government.
In order to promote the Good Friday Agreement, Campbell proposed transferring a Celtic-Rangers rivalry from Glasgow to Belfast, with an even more contentious twist: the two clubs would swap kits for the match!
The proposal was presented in a letter dated April 1998 to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, and Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar.
Campbell hoped that playing the derby in Northern Ireland would represent unity and peace, but the idea was swiftly dismissed as overly ambitious.
Campbell claimed to have a “direct in” with Celtic and would contact Sir Alex Ferguson to try to get Rangers on board. Surprisingly, the idea never materialized.
Those in attendance at the event on Saturday evening laughed as Alistair explained the notion, which he admits was foolish.
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