Alastair Campbell book panned by former No 2

When Alastair Campbell’s (pictured) debut novel, All in the Mind, appeared last year, the critics had a field day, panning it variously for its "robotic dialogue" and "slackly put-together sentences". Given his uneasy relationship with the press, that was to be expected. But now his former deputy spin-doctor in Downing Street, Lance Price, from whom he might have expected a little support, has put the boot in, too.

In a review for the left-wing magazine Progress, he begins kindly enough, praising Campbell’s "energy" and "courage" in raising the profile of mental illness by writing a book on the subject. Then he gets down to business.

"My fear is that many of them [readers] won’t make it to the end," he writes. "All in the Mind is not an easy read, and not just because of its subject matter. It is written in a disappointingly pedestrian style for such an accomplished wordsmith and offers too little to tempt the reader to see it through to the final chapter.

"All in the Mind has a curious monotone for a novel that features prostitution, sex trafficking, the victim of appalling burns and a spectacular political downfall,” he concludes. “The novel springs to life so infrequently."

What price loyalty?