Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former director of communications and now a host on podcast, has strong views on Donald Trump and on the state of Europe. With both in flux – next month’s US midterms look to be heading against Trump’s Republican Party, the far right is growing in Europe and Andy Burnham wants to reset relations with the EU – it’s a tense moment for the world.

It’s fitting then that the 69-year-old Campbell has just published his 22^nd book, Persevilience: The Word the World Needs Now. The made-up word is a combination of perseverance and resilience.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be drowned out by the negative, by the populist, by the sense of hopelessness,” Campbell tells The i Paper. “It’s about a mindset that says no matter how shit things are, you can always have some level of agency to make a change.”

For Campbell, the world right now seems a highly unsettled place, heavily tied to the man in the Oval Office. Fuel prices in the UK remain stubbornly high thanks to Trump’s war with Iran, and the US President is causing challenges for Europe when it comes to his approach to Vladimir Putin and Ukraine.

“It’s pathetic in one way, but I’m not going to go to America while he’s the President,” Campbell says. “If you’ve got a voice and a platform, and you feel able to say what you think about the guy, that’s what you should do.”

Campbell says he recently did an event with Kellyanne Conway, one of Trump’s closest aides during his first term, and she told him he had “Trump Derangement Syndrome level five”.

“I said, ‘No, I’ve got it to level infinity’, because it’s not Trump Derangement Syndrome, it’s Trump reality”.

Campbell’s new book reads like a manifesto for how to handle the big challenges the world is facing – climate change, Trump, AI, a Brexit reset, the potential for a new war and inequality – but it also points to Campbell’s own sense of where we are at.

The US President’s relationship with Russia is a particular focus for a man who was at the centre of the UK government for years. Trump recently announced a deal to import 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel, in the face of US sanctions, and has threatened Ukraine and said it’s time for it to get a new president.

“Somebody said that if he was a Russian agent, what would he actually do that’s different to what he’s done?” Campbell says. “He treats his enemies like you should treat your friends, and he treats his friends like they’re enemies.”

Campbell points out that if Trump had done a deal with Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, they could have got more diesel for less money, “but they can’t do that because Mark Carney is considered by him to be an enemy. Putin’s a friend.”

But Campbell is determined not to let the Trump’s actions get him down – especially with a Republican defeat in November’s midterm elections looking increasingly probable. He says people need to “work around” Trump. “We don’t just wait him out. We do whatever we can, even while he’s there.”

Campbell is also watching Andy Burnham’s moves over a possible Brexit reset with keen interest. A staunch Remainer and adviser to the People’s Vote campaign, he’s never reconciled himself with the results of the 2016 referendum.

“We interviewed the Finnish President Alexander Stubb on the podcast a few months ago, and he said: ‘Britain took seven years to leave, you’re taking roughly seven years to decide that it was a mistake, and I hope it doesn’t take another seven years before you’re back in it in some form.’”

Campbell believes Britain’s way back isn’t just rejoining, he says we need to help mould “a very different sort of Europe” which needs to “reform and change”.

“I’d like to see a Europe with Ukraine in it, with Norway and the Balkans,” he says. “A bigger, stronger, richer Europe is the only body that is ever going to be able to be the third leg of the stool with America and China.”

Campbell concedes that Britain will be unlikely to rejoin the EU without a referendum, but believes another vote is no longer out of the question – not least because Burnham is a keen Europhile. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister declared that the current UK-EU relationship was “not good enough” and promised “serious dialogue”.

“He thinks that Brexit was a terrible mistake for the country,” says Campbell, who has known Burnham for decades. “Equally, he’s a canny politician who knows that you’re going to have to take a lot of people with you on all of these difficult debates.”

When it comes to his old boss, who this year secured a seat on Trump’s Board of Peace, the organisation set up to oversee the Gaza peace plan, Campbell is more circumspect.

The British government has refused to endorse both the board and Blair’s appointment, citing concerns about Russian involvement. Others have criticised the body for sidelining the UN and charging money to become a permanent member.

“I’ve always been aware of his absolute passion to try to play a role in sorting out what is one of the world’s worst and most intractable problems.” Campbell says of Blair.

In , Campbell says that Blair would still want to be Prime Minister if he could – his desire for power and relevance have never faded.

“Put it this way, if it exists, I’d rather that someone like him was around it than not,” says Campbell. “But I do worry about that the Board of Peace is yet one more tactic for Donald Trump to enrich himself, his family and his cronies, and also to cut out other international organisations from these huge international problems.”

The Middle East is one of many problems the world faces, and while nearly every era sees huge and frightening change, Campbell says there’s something different about today. 

“You’ve always had massive challenges in the world, but I think it does feel like there is more to contend with,” he says. “There’s a far bigger collection of potential absolute, existential crises.”

For Campbell, climate change and AI are probably the two biggest ones at this moment, as well as so many conflicts under way across the world. “But I still trust and believe in the power of humanity to somehow get through,” he says.