We caught up with the former director of communications for Tony Blair's New Labour government before he heads to the Rose Theatre in Kingston next week to talk about his life, his work and his new book, Winners and How they Succeed.

What is the book about and why did you want to write it?

"The book explores how winners become winners. The way they think and if that’s different to other people and I’ve built stories around what they said. I talk to people at the top of their game in politics, sport and business. I’ve worked with a lot of successful people in my time and it’s interesting to know what makes them tick and how they think."

What did you find out when you were writing it?

"I discovered success is about hard work and knowing what you want, which seems obvious. Strategy and teamwork is also extremely important. Making sure you have a strategy and realising that the team behind you is vital to becoming successful. Great leaders and successful people are not always liked but having a supportive team behind you is vital. Ruthlessness is always seen as going hand in hand with success but you can be ruthless and still be liked. Some people love to be liked. I mean I would rather be liked than hated but as long as my partner and the people I respect like me then I don’t see a problem.

"The Mail on Sunday gave my book one star and my answer to that is I don’t even want to receive one star from them."

Who is the most successful person you feel that you have worked with?

"I think Tony [Blair] or [Bill] Clinton. Tony definitely had all of the strategy and the understanding of team work in making you a good leader. In terms of the book the most successful person I met was Floyd Mayweather - 47 fights and 47 wins. He was the only person I spoke to who has not had any defeats. Of all the people I met he was the only one who never thought about losing. One of the things that stuck with me the most was Richard Branson saying that he had never gone into a business venture thinking he will make money from it. You don’t become a winner in anything by just trying to make money."

How do you think the general election in May is going to go?

I think Labour can win it. It’s going to be very tough and very tight. Cameron effectively retired from being Prime Minister six months ago and went out on the campaign trail. Cameron just wants to be Prime Minister but he doesn’t know why. Ed knows why he wants to lead the country and deserves the chance.

What advice would you give to Ed Miliband if you were working with him in the same way you were with Tony Blair?

I have been working with Ed a little bit, talking about strategy. If you have a strategy you can get through it Ed is far more of a leader than Cameron. He gets a hard time in the press but I would say that the media only has power if you let it have power.

Looking back at my career the most successful moments I had was the 1997 election win but it was also one of the most miserable nights. I was tired having not slept properly for six weeks.

Alastair Campbell, Time to Talk; The Rose Theatre, Kingston; Monday, March 16, 7.30pm; £15; rosetheatrekingston.org