John Prescott

The Rt Hon. John Leslie Prescott MP
File:John Prescott.jpg
In office 2 May 1997 – present
Constituency	Hull East
Personal details
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Pauline Prescott

John Leslie Prescott (born May 31, 1938) is a British Labour Party politician who is Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and MP for Hull East. He became Deputy Leader of the Labour Party after coming second in the Labour leadership election in 1994 and became Deputy Prime Minister after Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 General Election. A former ship's steward and trade union activist, he is often seen as the working class representative in a "New" Labour party led by modernising middle-class university-educated professionals (despite his own university education).

It should be noted that in the United Kingdom the title "Deputy Prime Minister" is rarely used and confers few if any specific powers; while officially the Deputy Prime Minister fills in when the Prime Minister is away (usually out of the country) it is generally accepted that the second most powerful member of the present British government is the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown rather than John Prescott. In various sections of the media he is known as "Prezza" or more frequently "Two Jags", a reference to his love of big cars. Prescott is well known for his poor oral skills and frequent gaffes.

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, which meant he would attend the Grange Secondary Modern School. To John's annoyance, his younger brother, Ray, passed the exam. This bitterness in respect of differing success would perpetuate for many years. He became a steward 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 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 Conservatives. From 1974–79 he concurrently served as an MEP and Leader of the Labour Group, when its members were nominated by the national Parliaments.

Prescott held various posts in the 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 change. When the party first voted for its leadership under the new system, following the death of John Smith in 1994, Prescott became deputy leader. He became an important figure in Tony Blair's "New Labour" movement, as the representative of "old Labour" interests in the Shadow Cabinet and a reassuring presence for critics.

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 May 2002 an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created to deal with the areas under his responsibility.

Transport

Prescott pursued an integrated public transport policy, with however 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". The epithet was inspired by the Monty Python sketch, "Arthur Two Sheds Jackson".

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 which 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 was first (where support was felt to be strongest) but resulted in an overwhelming vote 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 1998 when he declared, "The green belt is a Labour achievement, and we are going 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 country, 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 the 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 lost out on grammar school on the basis of the controversial Eleven Plus 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 5th 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.

Controversies and Incidents

Brit Awards, 1998

While attending the Brit Awards in 1998, Chumbawamba vocalist, Danbert Nobacon, poured a jug of iced water over him, 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 ("Two Jags")

Prescott has on occasion been described as a Champagne socialist. 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?"

After this incident, the tabloid press gave him the nickname "Two Jags", which is the origin of his later nicknames.

Fighting with a protester ("Two Jabs")

The 2001 General Election campaign was marked by an incident when Craig Evans, a protester in a crowd, 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 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.

Mangled prose

Prescott has gained a reputation in the British press for confused speech, mangled grammar and syntax. One example of this is an impromptu speech given in Witham, Essex during the 2005 election campaign:

"Look I've got my old pledge card a bit battered and crumpled... We said we'd provide more turches churches teachers... and we have. I can remember when people used to say the Japanese are better than us, the Germans are better than us, the French are better than us, well it's great to be able to say we're better than them. I think Mr Kennedy (well we all congratulate on his baby) and the Tories are you remembering what I'm remembering? Boom and bust, negative equity — remember, Mr Howard. I mean, "you are thinking what I'm thinking" I'm remembering it's all a bit wonky isn't it?"

It is notable that like United States President George W. Bush, Prescott's speech problems usually occur when he is speaking off the cuff and not from prepared notes.

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.

On 29 March 2006, whilst standing in at Prime Minister's Questions, Prescott responded to criticism from William Hague regarding his confused syntax in the following manner:

I think cynical about politics come from 18 year of Tory government than from this. And, er, you know, erm, well, I just say to the honourable member, I often get the erm grammar wrong and I — er — take the blame for it. That was my education and I was responsible for it. but I would sooner get the words wrong than get my judgement wrong. After all, he was the leader who slammed England independence, who claimed that the minimum wage was the height of irresponsibility and would cause unemployment, and who said that Lord Archer was a man of integrity. If there is a choice between getting my words wrong and getting my judgement wrong, I would sooner have my problem than his.

Hansard editors (to whom Prescott frequently refers — along with the media — as "penny scribblers") later cleaned this up: "England independence" apparently refers to Bank of England independence.[1]

Council tax

In 2003, Prescott gave up a grace and favour flat he rented from the RMT Union in Clapham, South London. Prescott paid £200 a month for the property — a fifth of its market value — 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 £3,830.52 over nearly nine years).

Sexual infidelities and harassment allegations ("Two Shags")

At the 1996 Labour conference, Mr Prescott laid into the Conservatives on the basis of sleaze and infidelity, saying with reference to the antics 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' — 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. This relationship is said to have commenced after an office party. The two-year affair took place during meetings at Mr Prescott's grace-and-favour flat in Whitehall. 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. The affair earned Prescott a new nickname in the press: "Two Shags".

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." 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.

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 an affair 20 years ago with Sarah Bisset-Scott and a string of 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."

These indiscretions, and allegations of indiscretions, immediately preceded and precipitated Precott's demotion from executive office. (see above).

=== Benefits controversy ("No Jobs") === Despite his demotion, Prescott kept his £134,000 a year 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 £600,000 in total, based on the £104,000 expenses he claimed, £134,000 Cabinet salary, £300,000/annum cost of his houses, and £49,000 for his chauffeured car.

The Mirror and the Telegraph took the opportunity to provide a new nickname, "No Jobs"[2].

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

At 4.15 p.m. on 25 May 2006, Prescott was photographed paying croquet at Dorneywood (at which time Tony Blair was on holiday in Italy and Prescott was the acting Prime Minister) and the pictures were published in the Daily Mail. This led to calls for his resignation.

Bibliography

• Punchlines: A Crash Course in English with John Prescott by Simon Hoggart (Pocket Books, 2003) ISBN 0743483979
• Fighting Talk: Biography of John Prescott by Colin Brown (Simon & Schuster, 1997) ISBN 0684817985

External links

• 10 Downing Street - John Prescott official site
• BBC Profile
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Prescott MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - John Prescott MP
• Mr Prescott and his gaffes