John Prescott

John Leslie Prescott (born May 31, 1938) is a British Labour Party politician, Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Member of Parliament for the north east constituency of Hull East. He became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party after coming second in the Labour leadership election in 1994 and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister after Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 General Election.

A former ship's steward and trade union activist, he is the political link to the "working class" in a "New" Labour party led by modernising middle class university-educated professionals, despite his own university education.

Prescott is well known for his poor speaking skills and frequent gaffes. To many he is still remembered for punching and then getting into a brawl with a farmer whilst on the 2001 general election campaign after being hit by an egg.

Early life

The son of a railway signalman (and Labour councillor) and grandson of a miner, Prescott was born in Prestatyn in Wales and brought up initially in Brinsworth in South Yorkshire. He attended Brinsworth Primary School, where he sat but failed the Eleven Plus examination in 1948. His family moved to Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, where he attended the Grange Secondary Modern School. To John's annoyance, his younger brother Ray passed the exam. This bitterness would perpetuate for many years. He became a steward and waiter in the Merchant Navy, working for Cunard, and was a popular left-wing union activist. He then went to the independent Ruskin College in Oxford and gained a degree in economics and economic history at the University of Hull.

Parliament

He returned to the National Union of Seamen as a full-time official before being elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hull East in 1970, succeeding Commander Harry Pursey, the retiring Labour MP. The defeated Conservative challenger was Norman Lamont. Previously, he had attempted to become MP for Southport in 1966, but came in second place, approximately 11,000 votes behind the Conservative candidate. From 1974 to 1979, he concurrently served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Leader of the Labour Group, when its members were nominated by the national Parliaments.

Prescott held various posts in Labour's shadow cabinet, but his career was secured by an impassioned closing speech in the debate at the Labour Party Conference in 1993 on the introduction of "one member, one vote" elections for the party leadership. The support of an old-school unionist like Prescott helped swing the vote in favour of this reform. Prescott became deputy leader with the first leadership vote under the new system following the death of John Smith in 1994, . He became an important figure in Tony Blair's "New Labour" movement, as the representative of "old Labour" interests in the Shadow Cabinet.

Poor public speaking

Prescott has gained a reputation in the British press for confused speech, mangled syntax and grammar. The Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart once commented:"Every time Prescott opens his mouth, it's like someone has flipped open his head and stuck in an egg whisk."

An oft-quoted but unverified story in Jeremy Paxman's The Political Animal is that, before being accepted as transcribers to Hansard, applicants must listen to one of Prescott's speeches and write down what he was trying to say.

One of many examples occurred at the 2006 Labour spring conference where the BBC reported "Fans of Prescottese were not disappointed as the deputy prime minister began by harking back to the bad old days when Labour had 'single finger majorities'".

Sobriquets

In various sections of the media, he is known as "Prezza", or sometimes "Two Jags", a reference to his love of big cars.

He has also been named "Two Jabs" (referring to his retaliation against a protester farmer in 2001), "Two Shags" in reference to his extra-marital affairs, and "Two Shacks" (referring to his former country house).

Deputy Prime Minister

With the election of a Labour government in 1997, Prescott was made Deputy Prime Minister and given an impressively large portfolio at the head of the newly created Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions. In July 2001, an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created to deal with the areas under his responsibility. This new office was originally a part of the larger Cabinet Office, but became a department in its own right in May 2002 when it absorbed some of the resposibilities from the former Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.

It should be noted that in the United Kingdom, the title "Deputy Prime Minister" has rarely been used and confers no specific powers (in which it is similar to the pre-20th century usage of Prime Minister). In particular, the Deputy Prime Minister draws no salary; for Prescott, salary was based on his position as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions until 2001. Upon losing that role he was given the title First Secretary of State and a much smaller department called the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The Deputy Prime Minister often stands in when the Prime Minister is unavailable, the most common example being at Prime Minister's Questions (usually when the Prime Minister is out of the country), although Prescott has attended various Heads of Government meetings on behalf of Tony Blair.

It is generally accepted that the second most powerful member of the present British government is the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, not John Prescott.

Transport

Prescott pursued an integrated public transport policy, with little evident success. His reputation as a friend of public transport was hardly helped by his love of large cars, which gained him the nickname "Two Jags" (see Cars and the environment below). The epithet was presumably inspired by the Monty Python sketch, "Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson". Prescott owns one Jaguar, and has the use of another as his official ministerial car.

Prescott has also been known in sections of the press as "Prezza", in imitation of "Hezza", an eponym for Michael Heseltine, his Conservative predecessor as Deputy Prime Minister with whom he shares a combative streak.

Regional development

Prescott supported regional government in England. Early in his term, he introduced regional assemblies (consisting of delegates from local authorities) to oversee the work of new Regional Development Agencies in the regions of England. Following Labour's second election victory, he pressed for the introduction of elected regional assemblies, which would have seen about 20 members elected under a similar electoral system to that used for the Greater London Assembly. However, due to opposition, the government was forced to hold regional referenda on the change. The first three were intended to be in the North-East, North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside. The North-East referendum in 2004 was first (where support was felt to be strongest) but resulted in an overwhelming vote of 78% against. The plan for elected regional assemblies failed.

Prescott's conduct of his Department was criticised in relation to housing development. The rising number of households (especially in the south-east) means that new houses need to be built. Given that there are insufficient "brownfield" (developed) sites, Prescott determined that some greenfield (undeveloped) sites must be used for them, including some in the Green Belt. Prescott made a gaffe in January 1998 when he declared in a radio interview that "the green belt is a Labour achievement, and we mean to build on it".

In the north of England, Prescott approved the demolition of some 200,000 homes that are judged to be in "failing areas" as part of his Pathfinder regeneration scheme. In some cases these areas are abandoned, in others the communities are resisting. In the South East (the most affluent area of the U.K.), Prescott is widely criticised for building high rise flats on sites that were formerly houses, back gardens, and green areas. There is also critique of the underlying assumptions of the proposals.

Rebellion over education reforms

On 17 December 2005, Prescott made public his disapproval of Tony Blair's plans to give state schools the right to govern their finances and admission policies and to increase the number of city academies. Prescott, who failed to gain a place at a grammar school because he failed the Eleven Plus entrance examination, said that the move would create a two-tier educational system that would discriminate against the working class. In an interview that was the first that Prescott has made against Blair since his election as leader in 1994, he also said that the spirit of "fighting class" should be brought back to the Labour Party, an ideal that sits uneasily amongst many middle-class MPs in his parliamentary party.

Demotion and abolition of department

In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 May 2006, Prescott was stripped of his department following lurid revelations about his private life (see below) and poor performance by Labour in UK local elections. He remained as deputy PM, with a seat in the Cabinet, and was given a role as special envoy to the Far East . His department was effectively transferred to Ruth Kelly as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Succession

The British press reported on 9 July 2006 that as a consequence of the continuing problems centred on Prescott, Blair is preparing to replace him as Deputy Prime Minister with David Milliband MP, whilst possibly retaining Prescott as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Controversies and incidents

Brit Awards, 1998

While attending the Brit Awards in 1998, Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon poured a jug of iced water over Prescott, saying, "This is for the Liverpool Dockers". Dock workers in Liverpool had been involved in a two-year industrial dispute: a strike that had turned into a lockout, until a few weeks earlier. (A reporter from the Daily Mirror threw water over Nobacon the following day.)

Cars and the environment

Prescott was fined for speeding in July 1988, March 1989, January 1991 and January 1997. The last conviction related to an offence on 28 December 1996, when he was found to be driving at 80mph on the M62 at a time when police recommended a 30 mile per hour limit due to ice; he was fined Â£40 and given three penalty points on his driving licence."80mph Prescott fined", Sunday Times, January 5, 1997, p. 2; Guy Patrick, "Cops nick speeding Prescott", News of the World, January 5, 1997, p. 9

Prescott has on occasion been criticized for his public behaviour. In 1999, an official chauffeured car was used to transport Prescott and his wife 200 yards from their hotel to the venue of the Labour Party Conference, where Prescott gave a speech on how to encourage people to use public transport. Giving the reasons for this Prescott stated: "Because of the security reasons for one thing and second, my wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about. Have you got another silly question?""Prescott walks it like he talks it", BBC, September 30, 1999

Fighting with a protester

The 2001 General Election campaign was marked by an incident when the farmer Craig Evans threw an egg at Prescott, who responded with a punch, hitting the agitator. A scuffle developed and the two had to be separated by Prescott's police minders. The incident, overshadowing the launch of the Labour party manifesto on that day, was captured by television crews, and frequently replayed during the campaign, causing the name "Two Jags" to be temporarily replaced by "Two Jabs". However, a National Opinion Polls (NOP) poll found that it appeared to do no harm to Prescott and might have benefited his standing among male voters . After the election his "superministry" was broken up, leaving him with much reduced responsibilities. In the reshuffle that followed the resignation of Stephen Byers in 2002, he regained many of his former responsibilities for local and regional government, which were moved to a newly-independent Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Council tax

In 2003, Prescott gave up a grace and favour flat he rented from the RMT Union in Clapham, South London. Prescott paid Â£200 a month for the property â€" a fifth of its market value â€" but had not declared the flat in the register of members' interests. On 12 January 2006, Prescott apologised after it was revealed that the council tax for the government flat he occupies at Admiralty House was paid from the public purse, rather than his private income. He repaid the amount (which came to Â£3,830.52 over nearly nine years).

Sexual infidelities and harassment allegations

At the 1996 Labour conference, Mr Prescott laid into the Conservatives on the basis of sleaze and infidelity, saying with reference to the actions of former transport minister Steven Norris: "They are up to their necks in sleaze. The best slogan for their conference next week is 'Life's better under the Tories' â€" sounds to me like one of Steven Norris's chat-up lines."

But on 26 April 2006, Prescott admitted to having had an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, between 2002 and 2004. The Mail on Sunday broke the news in extracts from Temple's memoirs. These included a range of salacious allegations that were subject to extensive media comment.

This two-year affair is said to have commenced after an office party and, in part, took place during meetings at Mr Prescott's grace-and-favour flat in Whitehall. Conservative MP Andrew Robathan tabled questions in the House of Commons over John Prescott's reported entertainment of Ms Temple at Dorneywood, his official residence, which raised questions over the possible mis-use of public finances.

Several media organisations noted that Prescott chose to confess his affair the morning after the news broke that the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, had tendered his resignation (to be refused by Tony Blair) after hundreds of prisoners marked for deportation had been released back into the UK, possibly in an attempt to "bury" the news. However, Prescott and his wife appeared genuinely shocked and upset by the story's breaking, and several political commentators believe that this is a real coincidence.

Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun, told Radio 5 Live: "Learning that John Prescott's had an affair is a bit like learning that Simon Hughes is gay. I mean, everyone knew he has affairs. He's had a string of affairs throughout his life and this has come as no surprise."

On 30 April 2006, a "former senior Labour aide" Tricia McDaid was reported in the Sunday Times as accusing Prescott of being, in the paper's headline, "a serial groper" with a long record within the Labour Party of aggressive sexual behaviour: "He just jumped on you when he felt like it." The Mail on Sunday also alleged that Mr Prescott had other lovers. Prescott subsequently expressed his intention to complain to the Press Complaints Commission about investigations of his former liaisons, while admitting (alluding to the Temple affair), "I have acted stupidly."

However, press comment had now moved on to discuss the wider issues of harassment involved, in the light of which some backbenchers withdrew support for Prescott. On May 7, a story in The Sunday Times quoted Linda McDougall, wife of Austin Mitchell MP, as saying that in 1978 Prescott had put his hand up her skirt as he came through the door to a lecture meeting: Mr Prescott had not met McDougall before. Geraldine Smith, the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said that many female colleagues in the Parliamentary party would be alarmed at the "worst sort of abuse of power" by Mr Prescott if the allegations against him are true. She added, "We have tried to combat that within the Labour Party for years. It is as old as Adam, the male employer taking advantage of a young female employee, and I don't think it looks good."

Further controversy came about when political bloggers revealed the name of another alleged mistress, the MP Rosie Winterton. Both parties have refused to deny the allegations, refusing to respond to questions on the matter.

On 30th July, it was revealed that Tricia McDaid had filed suit for sexual harassment .

Benefits controversy

Despite losing most of his previous sub-departments, Prescott kept his Â£134,000 a year Cabinet salary, chauffeured Jaguar car, his grace-and-favour flat at Admiralty Arch and the official country residence Dorneywood, in Buckinghamshire. This sparked fresh criticism and controversy: the next day's Sun newspaper, rather than focusing on Labour's losses in the local elections, devoted their front page to Mr Prescott's pay with the headline "Prezza is screwing us all", saying that Prescott's benefits and salary would cost Â£600,000 in total, based on the Â£104,000 expenses he claimed, Â£134,000 Cabinet salary, Â£300,000/annum cost of his houses, and Â£49,000 for his chauffeured car.

The Mirror and the Telegraph took the opportunity to create a new nickname, "No Jobs".

The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, remarked, "John Prescott loses his department but keeps the trappings of office [...] If you're looking for ways to cut waste in government, you can start with John Prescott." Criticism also came from backbench Labour MPs Kate Hoey and Geraldine Smith. At the first PMQs after Prescott's demotion, Conservative MP John Maples commented on Prescott's "nine years of unremitting incompetence", joking that it was "better to pay the deputy prime minister for not running a department than running one".

Croquet controversy

On 25 May 2006 Prescott was photographed playing croquet at his then "grace and favour" home Dorneywood â€" at which time Tony Blair was on holiday in Italy and Prescott was the acting Prime Minister. The pictures were published in the Mail on Sunday, leading to further calls for his resignation.

The Labour MP Paul Clark, Prescott's parliamentary aide, offered the explanation that the game had been part of an office team-building exercise, nominally to discuss a departmental reorganisation. On the evening of 31 May 2006, Prescott announced that he was to give up Dorneywood in an attempt to draw a line under the matter.

Phil Anschutz affair

It was reported in July 2006 that Prescott has visited the Colorado ranch of Phil Anschutz, the American billionaire developer of the Millennium Dome, which Anschutz wishes to convert into a "Super Casino", seeing Anschutz on seven occasions in all. Anschutz has reportedly threatened to reduce his investment in the Dome from $600m to $325m if permission for a casino is not granted. Prescott's own assertion has been that the visits did not involve any discussion of uses of, or planning permission for, the Dome, and that the only topic they discussed was the career of William Wilberforce, the campaigner against slavery (and also against gambling), a predecessor of Prescott as a Hull MP. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats however, have alleged a conflict of interest, as Prescott had been chairman of the Cabinet committee responsible for developmental planning in the UK.

On 5 July 2006 it was announced that the affair is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Philip Mawer. As the same time, Prescott added the connection to the Register of Members' Interests, despite official claims the previous day that the inclusion was unnecessary, as Prescott had been on official government business. The Commissioner's report is anticipated to be completed by the end of July 2006.

John Prescott: Encyclopedia BETA

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