shortly after tony blair was elected as leader of the labour party in 1994, campbell left "today" to become his press secretary. having recovered and become teetotal, he told blair about his alcoholism, which blair did not see as a problem. in his autobiography, tony blair would later reveal that campbell had coined the name "new labour" and described campbell as a "genius". campbell wrote the speech that led to the party's review of clause iv and the birth of "new labour". in addition to being press spokesman, campbell was blair's speech writer and chief strategist. he oversaw new co-ordination and rebuttal systems which gave birth to a communications machine which became both feared and respected, and the model for modern communications in politics and business. he earned a reputation for ruthless news management which made him many enemies in the media. but even the conservatives conceded they were partly defeated by their inability to find someone to match him. he played an important role in the run-up to the 1997 general election, working with peter mandelson to co-ordinate labour's successful election campaign. he also worked hard to win support from the national media for the labour party, particularly from the newspapers that for many years had been anti-labour and pro-conservative. by march 1997, many of the leading newspapers—including "the sun", once a staunch thatcherite paper; had declared their support for labour.