New report sheds light on Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell's links with Al-Sisi

Fresh allegations have emerged about the links between Tony Blair and his former spin doctor Alistair Campbell, and the post-coup Egyptian military regime.

According to a report in The Mail on Sunday, Alistair Campbell has visited Egypt for “lengthy talks” with Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi’s team, giving advice about how to defend the coup in the media.

The paper cites anonymous diplomatic sources in Cairo, who say that Campbell spoke with Al-Sisi’s senior aides as well as politicians, seeking to correct what it seen by the coup regime as an image problem abroad.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Al-Sisi’s advisers have visited the US and Brussels on a mission to push a more positive image of the regime, aiming to “play down ‘regrettable’ outrages of the post-coup regime and play up abuses by Mohamed Morsi’s deposed Muslim Brotherhood government, while defending press curbs and clampdowns on protests as politically necessary”.

Campbell has admitted discussing “perceptions in the international media about Egypt”, while Blair has notoriously praised the military coup as the “rescue” of Egypt. Shortly after the coup in July 2013, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris hosted Blair on his yacht in St Tropez. The Mail on Sunday cites Amr Moussa, an adviser to Al-Sisi, who said that Blair has visited “several times” and “knows what is needed”.