Campbell Urges Australia to 'Re-Win the Argument for Democratic Politics' After Haines Attack

Alastair Campbell, the former communications chief to Tony Blair, has warned that Britain's political system slid back into overheated rhetoric and polarisation too quickly after attacks on MPs. He urged politicians to "re-win the argument for democratic politics".

Campbell made the remarks more than a week after independent MP Helen Haines was allegedly targeted in an attack outside her electorate office in northern Victoria. Haines lost both legs in the incident. Campbell said the tone of political debate in Australia should better reflect Haines' own approach.

Speaking on the Guardian's Australian Politics podcast on Wednesday, he pointed to the killings of British MPs Jo Cox and David Amess, and of former politician Ann Widdecombe. He said those deaths had not produced lasting change in political culture.

"They were followed by everybody saying the right thing about how our political debate culture had to change, about how we had to address online hate and polarisation, all this stuff," he said. "But it didn't take long before we kind of got right back into it." He added that the task now was to "genuinely try and generate a different way of talking to each other and about each other".

A 43-year-old man has been charged over the alleged attack on Haines, and police are continuing to investigate.

Campbell, co-host of the popular podcast The Rest is Politics, said Haines' eventual return to parliament could help drive change. He noted that individual incidents rarely last more than half a news cycle before the public moves on, and said remembering matters. The fact that she is still alive and will remain part of political debate may let people see the consequences of the actions taken against her, he suggested.

He also said politicians and the media should reflect on how they speak to everyday people and why their professions are so poorly trusted. In his view, the task is complicated by Donald Trump, whom he described as the loudest and most talked-about politician on the planet and a representative of much that Campbell believes should be absent from politics. "We've got to re-win the argument for democratic politics because it's under a lot of pressure right now," he said.

On the rise of populism, Campbell argued that the world has yet to come to terms with the 2008 global financial crisis. He linked the rise of Trump, Brexit and protests in parts of Europe to a sense that there was "socialism for the banks who caused it, and austerity for the people". Many people, he said, are still struggling to see their living standards rise, which drives what Americans call affordability and what Britons call the cost of living.

A former journalist, Campbell has written more than 20 books, including diaries from his years inside 10 Downing Street. His latest is Persevilience: The Word the World Needs Now, published by Allen and Unwin. He is due to visit Australia next month for a speaking tour, and said he occasionally watches clips of Paul Keating's parliamentary attacks from his time as prime minister in the 1990s.