John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East for 40 years from 1970 to 2010. He was often seen as the political link to the working class in a Labour Party increasingly led by modernising, middle-class professionals such as Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and developed a reputation as a key conciliator in the often fractious relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown.
For other people named John Prescott, see John Prescott (disambiguation).
The Lord Prescott
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Michael Heseltine[b]
Tony Blair
- John Smith
- Margaret Beckett (acting)
- John Smith
- Margaret Beckett (acting)
Harriet Harman
John Smith
- Neil Kinnock
- John Smith
Frank Dobson
Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock
Tony Blair
2
Born in Prestatyn, Wales, in his youth Prescott failed the eleven-plus entrance exam for grammar school and worked as a ship's steward and trade union activist. He went on to graduate from Ruskin College and the University of Hull. In the 1994 Labour Party leadership election, he stood for both the leadership and deputy leadership, winning election to the latter office. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister after Labour's victory in the 1997 election, with an expanded brief as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions until 2001 then subsequently First Secretary of State until 2007. In June 2007, he resigned as Deputy Prime Minister, coinciding with Blair's resignation as Prime Minister. Following an election within the Labour Party, he was replaced as deputy leader by Harriet Harman.
After retiring as a Member of Parliament at the 2010 general election, Prescott entered the House of Lords as a life peer with the title Baron Prescott, of Kingston upon Hull in the County of East Yorkshire. He stood as the Labour candidate in the 2012 election to be the first Police and crime commissioner for Humberside Police but lost to Conservative Party candidate Matthew Grove. Prescott resigned from the Privy Council in 2013 to protest delays to the introduction of press regulation of which he had become a proponent. In February 2015, he returned to politics as an adviser to Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Early life[edit]
Prescott was born in Prestatyn, Wales, on 31 May 1938[1][2][3] to Phyllis and John Herbert Prescott. John Prescott's father worked as a railway signalman and Labour councillor. When he was a preteen, his family won a competition to find the "most typical British family of 1951".[4] In 2009, he said: "I've always felt very proud of Wales and being Welsh...I was born in Wales, went to school in Wales and my mother was Welsh. I'm Welsh. It's my place of birth, my country."[5] He left Wales in 1942 at the age of four and was brought up initially in Brinsworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He attended Brinsworth Manor School, where in 1949 he sat but failed the 11-Plus examination to attend Rotherham Grammar School. Shortly afterwards, his family moved to Upton-by-Chester, and he attended Grange Secondary Modern School in nearby Ellesmere Port.[6]
Prescott became a steward and waiter in the Merchant Navy, thus avoiding National service, working for Cunard, and was a popular left-wing union activist. Prescott's time in the Merchant Navy included a cruise from England to New Zealand in 1957.[7][8] Among the passengers was former British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, recuperating after his resignation over the Suez Crisis. Prescott reportedly described Eden as a "real gentleman". Apart from serving Eden, who stayed in his cabin much of the time, Prescott also won several boxing contests, at which Eden presented the prizes.[8] He married Pauline "Tilly" Tilston at Upton Church in Chester on 11 November 1961.[9] He then went to Ruskin College, which specialises in courses for union officials, where he gained a diploma in economics and politics in 1965. In 1968, he obtained a BSc degree in economics and economic history from the University of Hull.[10]
Member of Parliament[edit]
Prescott 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 Kingston upon 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 9,500 votes behind the Conservative candidate.[11] From July 1975 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.[11] In 1988 Prescott and Eric Heffer challenged Roy Hattersley for the deputy leadership of the party, but Roy Hattersley was reelected as deputy leader. Prescott stood again in the 1992 deputy leadership election, following Hattersley's retirement, but lost to Margaret Beckett.[12]
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" for the selection and reselection of Labour Parliamentary candidates that helped swing the vote in favour of this reform. In 1994 Prescott was a candidate in the party leadership election that followed the death of John Smith, standing for the positions of both leader and deputy leader.[11] Tony Blair won the leadership contest, with Prescott being elected deputy leader.[11]
Controversies[edit]
Council tax[edit]
In 2003, Prescott gave up a home that he had rented from the RMT Union in Clapham; he had left the union in June 2002. Prescott paid £220 a month for the property – a fifth of its market value.[82] Though he had not declared the flat in the register of members' interests, he was subsequently exonerated by MPs who overruled Elizabeth Filkin, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.[83] On 12 January 2006, Prescott apologised after it was revealed that the council tax for the government flat he occupied at Admiralty House was paid from public money, rather than his private income. He repaid the amount, which came to £3,830.52 over nearly nine years.[84]
Sexual infidelities[edit]
Prescott has come under fire for additional controversies over sexual infidelities.[85] On 26 April 2006, he admitted to having had an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, between 2002 and 2004.[86] This two-year affair is said to have commenced after an office party and, in part, took place during meetings at Prescott's grace-and-favour flat in Whitehall. Conservative MP Andrew Robathan tabled questions in the House of Commons over Prescott's reported entertainment of Temple at Dorneywood, his official residence, which raised questions over the possible misuse of public finances.[87]
He was criticised for maintaining the benefits of Deputy Prime Minister despite losing his department in 2006. He was criticised for visiting the American billionaire Phil Anschutz who was bidding for the government licence to build a super casino in the UK,[88][89][90] and questioned over his involvement in the business of his son Johnathan Prescott.[91][92] He was photographed playing croquet at Dorneywood, his then "grace and favour" home, when Tony Blair was out of the country on a visit to Washington.[93] Prescott was mocked in the media – in part because the game was so divorced from his working-class roots – and he gave up the use of the house.[94] He later said that it had been his staff's idea to play croquet and that contrary to press reports, he had not been Acting Prime Minister when he had played the game.[95][96]
Sexual assault allegation[edit]
On 7 May 2006, The Sunday Times quoted Linda McDougall, wife of Austin Mitchell, as saying that in 1978 Prescott had pushed her "quite forcefully" against a wall[97] and put his hand up her skirt as she opened the door for him to a meeting in her own house just after her husband became an MP; Prescott had not previously met her.
Expenses claims[edit]
On 8 May 2009, The Daily Telegraph began publishing leaked details of MPs' expenses. The Telegraph reported that Prescott had claimed £312 for fitting mock Tudor beams to his constituency home, and for two new toilet seats in as many years. Prescott responded by saying, "Every expense was within the rules of the House of Commons on claiming expenses at the time".[98]
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
Prescott and Pauline Tilston married in 1961. They have two sons. The elder, Johnathan Prescott, is a businessman. Their younger son, David Prescott, is active in Labour Party politics and works in the office of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn;[116] he failed to be selected for his father's parliamentary seat in Hull[117] but was the Labour candidate for Gainsborough in 2015. Pauline had a son by an American airman in the 1950s, whom she gave up for adoption.[2]
Health concerns[edit]
Prescott was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990,[118] although this was not publicly disclosed until 2002.[119] On 2 June 2007 he was admitted to hospital after being taken ill on a train from his constituency in Hull to London King's Cross.[120] He was later diagnosed with pneumonia and was treated at University College Hospital, London. He was moved to a high-dependency ward on 5 June 2007 so he could be monitored more closely because of his age and the fact he suffers from diabetes.[121] On 6 June 2007 it was reported in the media that his condition was stable and that he was sitting up and "joking" with hospital staff.[122] He was subsequently released from hospital on 10 June 2007 to continue his recovery at home.[123]
In April 2008, Prescott recounted having suffered from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa, which he believed was brought on by stress, from the 1980s until 2007.[124]
Prescott was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary on 21 June 2019 after suffering a stroke.[125] He subsequently returned to his duties.[126]