Jeremy Corbyn MP and Alastair Campbell at the official opening of Highgate East hospital with North London Mental Health Partnership chair Lena Samuels, left, and chief executive Jinjer Kandola

ALASTAIR Campbell and Jeremy Corbyn don’t always see eye-to-eye but stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the official launch of a new hospital for mental health patients.

Tony Blair’s former right hand man Mr Campbell went doorknocking for the Lib Dem during European elections in protest at Mr Corbyn when he was leader of the Labour Party.

But last week the two put aside their differences at the “official launch” of the £80million Highgate East hospital, next to the Whittington.

The 78-bed inpatient facility, for some of the most vulnerable residents of Islington and Camden, has been built to replace beds and services at Sr Pancras Hospital – which is being knocked down to make a new home for Moorfield’s Eye Hospital. At the launch, Mr Campbell, a mental health campaigner, spoke about his brother Donald, who died aged 62 and had schizophrenia.

He said: “When my brother died, we sat down with a map of the UK and dotted all the different places where he’d been. So, we had all these hospitals all around the country and some of them were amazing and some of them were terrible and places where you would not want to be treated. That is why I wanted to be involved today – I felt the power of the architecture as we were going around. What is important if you have a facility like this, is that you really shout about it. You should get people in to see it. You can see best practice here and hopefully that can spread.”

Each ward “has access to fresh air” through a series of terraced sky gardens, all fully enclosed for safety and security, while allowing service users to connect with nature and get the most out of their recreational activities. A ground-floor café, open to the public, is due to start operating in the autumn and there is a “sports hall” for service users.

A plaque was jointly unveiled at the event by Mr Corbyn, the Independent MP for Islington North, and Mr Campbell, a spokesman for the North London Mental Health Partnership said.