MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: From Britain now a sudden resignation, one of the prime minister's most trusted aides. It comes just a day after Tony Blair testified on the justification for war in Iraq. CNN's Robin Oakley joins us now from London with more on the story -- Robin.</s>ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's communications and strategy chief, is probably the closest person in the whole of the labor government to Tony Blair. He's been his political soul mate. He's worked closed with him for nine years in opposition and in government, and as his director of communications he's been the essential figure really in modernizing the Labor Party and revising its message to the British public. He's played a big role in two election victories. Tony Blair will miss him enormously. Many people call him the real deputy prime minister. The</s>O'BRIEN: It is still a departure under a cloud, nevertheless, even though he might have been cleared. I'm also curious, Robin, if anybody else might be on the chopping block there.</s>OAKLEY: No, I don't think we're expecting anybody else to go. And this is partly -- the timing of this is partly because the political year in Britain in a sense begins with a round of party conferences in the autumn. We're a month or so away from the Labor Party conference. This is a chance for a New man to get in. And the departure of Alastair Campbell is in a way an opportunity for Tony Blair, as well as a loss, because the government is taking a huge battering in the opinion polls. People don't believe what this government says anymore. It's part to do with the</s>O'BRIEN: CNN's Robin Oakley at No. 10 Downing Street. Thanks very much.
One of Tony Blair's Most Trusted Aides Resigns