Tony Blair’s pollster and strategist, Philip Gould, has died of cancer. A member of the New Labour inner circle, Gould is credited, to a large extentm, for ensuring Labour’s three election victories. After a career in advertising, Gould became a close ally of Peter Mandelson, advising him on focus groups and polls. He established the shadow communications agency, initially for Neil Kinnock. While his main role was in strategy and communication, he was also a passionate advocate of New Labour’s politics, and wrote a much-lauded book on the subject, The Unfinished Revolution.
Shortly before his death, he spoke to the New Statesman’s Jonathan Derbyshire (you can read the full interview here). He touched on his illness:
If the Labour Party is to move forward, it needs a more explicit sense of purpose, a more explicit sense of what it is for. Unless you have a sense of purpose, you can’t achieve very much. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, since I’ve been ill. I’m not sure if my illness was somehow preordained but it’s been such an extraordinary thing — especially at this last stage, when my cancer has returned.
I’ve been told that I’m going to die sooner rather than later. On one level, this is ghastly but, on another level, it creates such a powerful feeling and you think: “God! Maybe this is preordained or predestined.”
I often sit and talk to my wife [the publisher Gail Rebuck] about how much of my life’s purpose I added afterwards, retrospectively, and how much of it has been preordained.
Today, key Labour figures have rushed to pay tribute to Gould. Here are some of the accolades.
Tony Blair
Philip was such a huge part of the renaissance of the Labour Party. To me he was my guide and mentor, a wise head, a brilliant mind, and a total rock when a storm was raging. He became indispensable. He was always a constant advocate for the British people, their hopes and anxieties. So his political contribution was immense. I feel very proud and privileged to have known him and to have been his friend.
. . .
But then as his illness gripped him, he became something more. In facing death, he grew emotionally and spiritually into this remarkable witness to life’s meaning and purpose.
Peter Mandelson
Philip was as brave in his illness as he was in his politics, always doing things differently. For Labour he was instrumental in driving a revolution that transformed not just our party, but British politics as a whole.
When he became ill with cancer, instead of retreating into himself, he took it on and, in the process, took everyone along with him. He was utterly devoted to his amazing family as well as being a wonderfully loyal friend who I will miss terribly.
Alastair Campbell
When times were tough there was no better friend; always loyal, but understanding that loyalty required honesty and frankness and ideas about how to make things better.
Ed Miliband
Philip Gould was an exceptional man and his death is an exceptional loss. He was Labour to his core, and today, as the Labour party, we mourn for one of our own. He was rightly known as a path-breaking political strategist. His friends will also remember an extraordinary human being – warm, funny, engaging, deeply emotional and loving to all those he knew.
Nowhere was he more extraordinary than in the final years of his life — battling his cancer like a political campaign that could be mastered and won, then accepting death with courage and bravery.
His contribution to Labour politics was enormous. His work and commitment helped change the lives of millions of his fellow citizens for the better.He taught those fortunate enough to know him much about how to live and, in the years of his illness, much about how to die. His memory will live on in his wonderful family and all those who had the privilege to call him their friend.”
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