Campbell's love secret...

I was getting comfortable for a snooze on the train back from Stanstead last night when I noticed Alastair Campbell’s name printed in the women’s mag Mrs Lobbydog was flicking through.

She looked surprised when I asked if I could borrow the copy of Elle, but I just had to find out what the secret of a long-lasting relationship was – something the Labour spinner was promising to reveal.

Surprisingly, the secret turned out to be buying a copy of Campbell’s most recent novel, Maya, a story about an A-list movie star whose changing relationship with an old friend leads to “disturbing consequences”.

I wondered if his time as a soft porn writer helped him capture just how disturbing the consequences were.

I admit I have no intention of reading Maya myself and so turned to a couple of other reviews to see what the book was all about.

They seemed to suggest it is more of a vehicle for Campbell’s own sourness – I’ll leave you with the words of Anthony Horowitz from The Telegraph.

“If you were to sum up this grim, rather bitter book in one sentence, it would be this. He who lives by the media, dies by the media.”