I was targeted by Mirror investigators- Campbell

Alastair Campbell has told the High Court helium and his woman were targeted by backstage investigators moving for the steadfast of the Daily Mirror.

In his grounds connected Tuesday, helium accused the newspaper's erstwhile exertion Piers Morgan of "two-faced conduct".

Tony Blair's erstwhile rotation doc was giving grounds successful London connected Tuesday arsenic portion of a proceedings brought against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).

MGN contests claims it gathered accusation done unlawful means.

The High Court is proceeding "representative" cases brought by the Duke of Sussex and others and concerns stories dating back, successful immoderate cases, much than 20 years.

The claimants allege accusation was gathered via unlawful methods including telephone hacking, securing accusation done deception, and journalists utilizing backstage investigators to instrumentality others into handing implicit confidential accusation astir the targets.

The claimants judge their backstage and confidential accusation was obtained by journalists from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspapers.

Prior to 1994, Mr Campbell had been a writer for the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror.

In a written witnesser statement, helium said helium had been shown 3 documents by the claimants' ineligible team, dating from erstwhile helium was main property caput successful Downing Street, a relation helium held betwixt 1997 and 2000.

Two of the documents were from invoices by backstage probe steadfast Southern Investigations, some addressed to then-Daily Mirror investigations exertion Gary Jones, and the 3rd was a confidential hand-written enactment which contained numbers for fiscal accounts held by Mr Campbell and his woman Fiona Millar, helium said.

In his connection helium said the "fact that MGN unlawfully obtained specified backstage and idiosyncratic fiscal information" astir himself and his woman was "extremely troubling".

"The information that they did not people the accusation they obtained successful nary mode minimises this view," helium said.

Mr Campbell said helium believed the inquiries into his affairs related to a communicative involving the finances of Labour grandee Peter Mandelson, published connected Christmas Eve successful 1998.

He said helium had besides seen documents which indicated that a "blagger" sent Lord Mandelson's backstage banking and owe details to Southern Investigations, who sent them connected to Gary Jones, present exertion of the Daily Express, connected December 23 of that year.

"As a result, I judge that the Daily Mirror decided, astatine the clip of the Mandelson story, to food into my slope and owe affairs successful the anticipation that they excessively would uncover thing they considered newsworthy," helium said.

In his witnesser statement, helium said helium believed Mr Morgan was alert of specified conduct.

"I person work the conception of Piers Morgan's memoirs, The Insider, dealing with precocious December 1998 and I tin present spot that Mr Morgan does not acceptable retired truthfully however helium obtained the accusation connected Mr Mandelson," helium said.

He said that Mr Morgan purported "to beryllium a existent state of the premier curate and the Labour government, portion each the clip helium and his elder squad were utilizing amerciable means to find stories designed to destabilise that government".

Mr Campbell said this "compounds the choler I consciousness astir this", arsenic did "the information that this behaviour has been emphatically denied, by Mr Morgan and his colleagues, for truthful long".

"Fiona and I are shocked and, frankly, appalled astatine this intrusion into our privateness by the Daily Mirror," the connection said.

"I find it precise hard to judge that immoderate editor, particularly 1 arsenic hands-on arsenic Mr Morgan, would not person known and demanded to cognize wherever the large stories were coming from.

"Nor bash I judge that radical successful elder positions successful authorities with entree to highly delicate accusation and with evident information concerns would person been targeted successful this mode without the exertion knowing and sanctioning specified methods."