BRITAIN: Alastair Campbell, former spokesman for Tony Blair, yesterday refused to discuss whether government scientist Dr David Kelly was put under too much pressure before committing suicide.
Mr Campbell admitted that the events surrounding Dr Kelly's death were his "worst time" in Downing Street.
He has been criticised over his comments about the affair in an interview with the Independent on Sunday.
Mr Campbell yesterday spoke to the BBC's Breakfast about his own battle with depression in an interview to mark World Mental Health Day. He discussed his breakdown in the 1980s while working as a journalist and later problems during his time at No 10.
Asked about his experiences during the Kelly affair, he said: "I don't think it was depression - I simply was asked in an interview how that all felt, as it were, and the honest, straightforward answer is it all felt terrible, the whole time.
"I don't think that was depression. That was just the fact you were dealing with what was, without any shadow of a doubt, for me the worst period for my time in Downing Street - and obviously for somebody like him, who I never met but who felt so badly about what was going on that he felt compelled to take his own life."
Asked if he now felt that Dr Kelly was put under too much pressure, he said: "I've dealt with every question to do with the Hutton inquiry and I don't particularly think there's any purpose served by going down that route."
On the subject of his own mental health, Mr Campbell said: "Periodically I get bouts of what most people would describe as depression, and you just find your own coping mechanisms." He said while he did not know the reasons for it, it could be linked to being a "driven personality" and a "bit of a perfectionist".
He also spoke about the support he received from Mr Blair.
"I had somebody who was then leader of the opposition, going to be prime minister, who knew about the background that I had but felt that it wasn't a problem. I think that's quite a strong positive signal to send out," he said.
Tory MP Mike Penning has described Mr Campbell's comments at the weekend as "abhorrent", while Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, who has called for a new investigation into Dr Kelly's death in 2003, said they were "pretty shabby".