An expletive-laden email from Alastair Campbell berating Sun columnist Kelvin MacKenzie for expressing “buyers remorse” over voting to leave the EU has been published by the Sun.
MacKenzie, a former editor of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, wrote on Monday that the “surge” of power he had felt from voting leave had given way to worries about the impact the vote would have on the UK’s future.
“Four days later I don’t feel quite the same,” he said. “I have buyer’s remorse. A sense of be careful what you wish for. To be truthful I am fearful of what lies ahead.”
However, in his column on Friday, MacKenzie included an email from Campbell in which Tony Blair’s former spin doctor attacked his earlier backing for the leave campaign and the “giant propaganda machine” he said MacKenzie had been part of.
According to MacKenzie, Campbell’s email read: “Never mind buyers remorse, you should feel fucking ashamed to have been for so long part of a giant propaganda machine which has helped the country make a potentially self-destructive decision that future generations will have to live with when you and I are long gone.”
“Murdoch has been a complete poison in our national life and you have helped so much. And because you are well sorted it will not hit you nearly as hard as those you and yours have persuaded to make the decision they did.
“But hey, it’s all a bit of fun eh? Fuck off.”
On Twitter, Campbell confirmed he had written the email as the Sun had reported it.
I can confirm that this is a genuine email. And I can confirm its accuracy in all parts https://t.co/BESUtI8gT9
— Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) July 1, 2016
In his column, MacKenzie hit back at Campbell, citing his involvement in the notorious document claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
He wrote: “I think of the two of us, the one that knows most about ‘giant propaganda machines’ would be Campbell by some distance.”
