"Alastair Campbell is the second most powerful man in Britain. Although his official title is Special Adviser and Chief Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, he wields far more power and influence than Cabinet ministers." "Campbell is the Prime Minister's main adviser and his closest and most trusted political friend. He sits in the Cabinet, has an overview of government that is denied even to ministers and controls the flow of information. And yet he lives his life in the shadows. This book is the first to shine the spotlight on the man known at Westminster as 'the real Deputy Prime Minister' without whose knowledge no important decision is ever made. It shows how this unelected official has assumed a dominant position in Whitehall and argues that he has gained this position thanks to the emasculation of the Cabinet and the irrelevance of Parliament."--BOOK JACKET.