In 1997, Tony Blair led the Labour party to a landslide victory in the UK general election.

After 18 years of Conservative rule, everything about New Labour seemed vibrant and youthful. Its dynamic media operation was led by chief “spin doctor” Alastair Campbell.

Lance Prince, a BBC political correspondent, joined the team a year later as the prime minister’s deputy spokesman, later heading the communications operation at Labour headquarters in the 2001 election.

Throughout it all, he kept a diary.

“The Spin Doctor’s Diary” delves into the minutiae of policy, but one consistent thread shines through: How utterly obsessed Blair and his Cabinet were with how they were perceived. Policy making was driven by how it would read in the newspapers rather than if it would work. This meant the press office constantly spun situations to make them look better than they were.

In other words, they covered up, distorted, misled and occasionally outright lied. It was style versus substance and style mostly won.