President of Indonesia Joko Widodo (L) and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott walk into a meeting room for a plenary session at the G20 summit in Brisbane November 15, 2014.
President of Indonesia Joko Widodo (L) and Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott walk into a meeting room for a plenary session at the G20 summit in Brisbane November 15, 2014. Western leaders attending a G20 summit blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday for the crisis in Ukraine, threatening further sanctions if Russia did not withdraw troops and weapons from its neighbouring nation. REUTERS/Rob Griffith/Pool

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, appreciated Australia’s “winning spirit” in business, sport and politics. He, however, said that it was difficult to figure out what Tony Abbott was up to.

Campbell, who used to work as a political aide for the former British prime minister, had a few suggestions for the Australian PM. He said that a modern age prime minister must have a sense of his overall strategy. He said that a prime minister had to be tactical despite having pressure all the time from media, social networks and public.

A prime minister must give strategic responses, Campbell said. However, according to the former spin doctor, it was pretty difficult to understand Abbott’s strategy as the Australian prime minister.

"Somehow though, I don’t think we are going to be able to add the current PM to the list of famous Aussie winners, to join the likes of Whitlam, Hawke, Keating and Howard,” Campbell said, “But political winners have to endure, and make real and lasting change, and I am not convinced Tony Abbott will do either.” He said that Abbott could well be out of a job within a few months unless something “pretty drastic” took place.

Campbell has recently penned a book called “Winners and How They Succeed.” Several noted people from Australia were interviewed for the book. The book has a chapter about the winning spirit of Australia and its sportspeople. He said that Australia’s sport mind-set was “right up there with the best."

Campbell talked to several Australian sportspeople like Layne Beachley, Leigh Matthews and Shane Warne. Campbell called Australia a “very, very special country” in terms of its history of sports and business. He particularly talked about Australia’s mining and energy sectors. He said that there was something about the Australian psyche which was “very, very special.” According to Campbell, lots of Australians have strategy, team ship, leadership, innovation, data and resilience. He said that those qualities were required to be a winner.

Campbell mentions several famous people in his book about winners. The names include Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, the Queen, Warren Buffett, Clive Woodward, Jack Welch, Alex Ferguson and several others.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au