British journalist, broadcaster, and political aide Alastair Campbell has said the Guinness photo call opportunity by politicians visiting Ireland, most recently and famously by US President Barack Obama, sends out the wrong message on alcohol.



In Dublin recently to support the Reduce Your Alcohol Use campaign, Campbell queried: “I am not criticising Guinness, but if a British politician comes to Dublin and wants a photo call, what are you going to do?”

”Go to a pub and buy him a pint of Guinness and it’s nice and touchy-feely, and it’s warm and it’s blah, blah, blah. But actually what it does is it sends a message that that’s what you do when you come to Dublin — have a drink.”

Responding to a question on whether politicians should champion the campaign to tackle alcohol abuse, the former British Labour party spin doctor said it would help if there were more politicians who saw this as a significant issue and spoke about it publicly.