John Prescott, former deputy prime minister of the UK between 1997 and 2007, has passed away at the age of 86.
Prescott’s family shared the news early on Thursday morning, announcing that the former Labour politician died “peacefully” at his care home surrounded by relatives. Leaving behind a wife and two children, his family revealed that he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who Prescott sat underneath as Deputy for a decade, has led tributes, saying he was “devastated” by news of his death. “It is no exaggeration to say the Labour party could never have won three consecutive full terms without John,” Mr Blair said, calling Prescott - who became a Lord in 2010 - “one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics”.
Prescott, who was an MP for Kingston upon Hull East for 40 years, suffered from a number of health conditions throughout his life: in 1990, he was diagnosed with diabetes; in 2007 he had a bout of pneumonia; he suffered from bulimia for over 20 years, and in 2019, he had a stroke.
As tributes to the Labour figure pour in, let’s take a look at the ups and downs of Prescott’s long career.
1970: Prescott is elected as an MP for Hull East
Born in Wales to working-class parents, Prescott worked as a chef and then a ship steward on passenger liners before achieving a diploma in economics and politics in the 60s.
During his time in the Merchant Navy, he worked on a New Zealand-bound cruise in 1957, where former Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden was among the guests. Calling Eden a “real gentleman”, Prescott served the prime minister throughout the trip. While on board the Cunard liner, Prescott won an on-board boxing tournament (a hobby he picked up in school which would prove handy later on in his career).
Before being elected as an MP in 1970, he was an active figure in the merchant sailor strikes and became an official for the National Union of Seamen.
Upon becoming a frontbench spokesperson for the Labour Party in the late 70s, he quickly became a prominent voice in the party, especially when it came to transport. During his early political career, Prescott ran for deputy leadership of the country twice - but lost to Roy Hattersley in 1988 and and Margaret Beckett in 1992.
1983: Swimming in the River Thames
One of the most notable moments from his early career came in 1983, when then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was facing backlash for a policy that allowed nuclear waste to be dumped into the sea. Unions and Greenpeace turned to Prescott, who, to publicly oppose the policy, swam for 2 miles down the River Thames. “It made a great series of photos,” he later wrote in his autobiography. “But of course, I had a very serious purpose.”
Early highs as deputy Prime Minister
By the time Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party following the death of John Smith in 1994, an outspoken Prescott was first-pick to become his deputy leader, later becoming the deputy prime minister when Blair won the 1997 general election in a landslide victory.
With his feet firmly planted in his working-class roots, Prescott became an essential link between Old Labour voters and the government’s New Labour stance. One of his most pivotal moments early on was his heavy involvement in the Kyoto Protocol, a landmark international agreement formed in 1997 that called to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 5.2 per cent to combat climate change.
Prescott worked tirelessly in negotiations alongside figures like then-US Vice President Al Gore, who said: “I’ve never worked with anyone in politics- on my side of the pond or his - quite like John Prescott.” In 2018, Prescott told The Guardian that he considered the agreement the greatest achievement in his career.
As well as the Kyoto Agreement, the politician significantly contributed to empowering local communities, driving the creation of regional development councils thus allowing local governments to become more self-sufficient economically. He was also a staunch advocate for transforming the UK’s transport system, strongly opposing the privatisation of the UK’s transport services and even openly disagreeing with the party’s stance on rail regulation.
1998: Getting soaked at the BRIT Awards
On the night of the 1998 Brit Awards, Prescott unexpectedly made headlines over the likes of performers the Spice Girls, Fleetwood Mac and All Saints after Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon dumped a bucket of ice over his head.
Why? Nobacon pulled the stunt in solidarity with dock workers in Liverpool who had been involved in a years-long industrial dispute. Many were angry with the government - particularly Prescott, who has long been a supporter of unions - for not aiding the end of the dispute or reversing anti-trade union legislation brought forward by the previous Conservative government. Speaking with NME earlier this year, the band’s frontman Dunstan Bruce said the reason why the stunt was pulled was because Prescott “could have resolved that dispute and he refused to, even though it was a union he used to be a part of”. In a statement following the incident, Prescott’s office called the stunt “utterly contemptible”.
2001: Synonymous with eggs and Jags
At a 2001 general election campaign rally in Rhyl, Wales, a protestor - opposing Labour’s support of a fox-hunting ban - threw an egg in Prescott’s face. Prescott’s boxing experience came in handy when he retailed by famously punching Craig Evans repeatedly (calling it an act of self-defence) which was caught on camera. Although some thought this would be damaging to Prescott’s public image, opinion polls by the likes of Sky News found that the public - especially the working-class public - supported Prescott’s reaction.
Previously earning the nickname ‘Two Jags’ by the press for his love of Jaguar cars, the press quickly nicknamed Prescott ‘Two Jabs’ after the incident. In July of that year, he was given the honorific title of First Secretary of State by Tony Blair.
2006: A peacemaker finds himself at the heart of controversy
During the latter part of his time as Deputy Prime Minister in the 2000s, Prescott was credited with being a useful mediator amid the turbulent relationship between PM Blair and then-Chancellor Gordon Brown, which was mostly down to Brown’s frustration towards Blair for not relinquishing power.
But this period, especially 2006, was not a great time to be John Prescott. In April, the Mail on Sunday reported that he had engaged in a two-year-long affair between 2002 and 2004 with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, who was 24 years his junior. Speaking with the newspaper, who paid her £250,000 for her story, Temple said the pair had sex in Prescott’s Whitehall office during meetings and in a hotel room while his wife Pauline was downstairs.
Prescott admitted to the affair, telling the Mirror at the time that his wife was “devasted”. While the couple worked through the scandal, it had huge implications for his political career. At that year’s Labour Party conference, he announced that he was stepping down from his deputy position amid the uproar.
“I know that in the last year, I let myself down, I let you down. So conference, I just want to say sorry,” he said.
In a cabinet reshuffle that May, Prescott lost his departmental responsibilities due to the affair and the party’s recent poor performance in local elections.
They say that bad things happen in threes, which was the case for Prescott when he gave up Doneywood, the 18th-century grace-and-favour country home he lived in. It came as he was pictured playing croquet on the property’s lawn while Blair was on a visit to Washington, which resulted in the press mocking him because of the game’s high society associations, a far cry from Prescott’s humble beginnings.
2008 - 2010: Revelation of eating disorder and life peerage
After Blair announced that he was resigning in May 2007, Prescott quickly followed suit, going on to stand down as an MP at the next general election.
Prescott’s autobiography, Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches, was released a year later, and in it came a shocking revelation regarding the former deputy PM’s health. In the book, Prescott revealed that he had suffered from bulimia nervosa for almost 20 years, which he believed was brought on by the stress of life in politics. “People normally associate it with young women - anorexic girls, models trying to keep their weight down, or women in stressful situations, like Princess Diana,” he wrote. He won praise for speaking of his condition publicly, especially for raising awareness that men also suffer from the condition.
Then, in 2010, Prescott was awarded a life peerage (despite previously saying he would not accept one). Defending his acceptance of the title, he said at the time that it would allow him to influence environmental policy.
2012: Failed political revival and ill health
Prescott dabbled in politics throughout the 2010s. In 2012, he stood as the Labour candidate to become Humberside Police’s first Police and Crime Commissioner, however, he lost out to Conservative competitor Matthew Grove. Then three years later, he worked as an advisor to Ed Milliband during the former opposition leader’s unsuccessful election campaign.
Over a decade later, Prescott ceased to be a member of the House of Lords in July 2024. Prescott had spoken only once in the chamber since suffering a stroke in 2019 and had not voted since February 2023. His departure was confirmed alongside other peers who ceased membership for similar reasons.
