“I have changed. I no longer keep the coal in the bath…I keep it in the bidet.”
John Prescott
Introduction
The Labour Party has a long history of prolific political beasts. Politicians who don’t pull punches firmly believe in conviction and helping those in need. They are a rare and dying breed in today’s UK politics. Many choose to tightly tow the political line and sit on the fence when action is required. Yet in this stellar Labour class that includes the likes of Barbara Castle, Bernie Grant, Dennis Skinner, and Dennis Healey, a man who didn’t mince his words and shot from the hip stands out. A disciple from the party’s left wing who Tony Blair cleverly used as Deputy Prime Minister in New Labour to bring the historic fractious wings of the party together for three general election wins. A juggling act that only Harold Wilson could achieve in years gone by and brought about a raft of legislation that included the National Minimum Wage and massive investment in the National Health Service. The man in question was, of course, John Prescott. A former steward and waiter in the Merchant Navy who worked for Cunard. A Prestayn-born son of a railway signalman and Labour councillor. A graduate of Ruskin College and the University of Hull who was first elected to parliament as an MP in 1970 for Kingston upon Hull East, witnessed the troublesome administrations of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, the Thatcher years and dying embers of the Conservative government under John Major. A government that couldn’t shake off the wranglings of Europe and that came crashing down in the 1997 general election, spelling a landslide victory by the Labour Party.
Two Jags
This advocate of social justice who despised the Tory doctrine would become the longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister from 1997-2007 and served as an MP for 40 years—later serving as a life peer in the House of Lords from 2010-2024. His passing after a brave battle with Alzheimer’s is a sad day for the Labour family and British politics. Prescott may have sadly bought into the champagne Socialism of New Labour, famously owning two Jaguar cars and enjoying the trappings of office a little too much. Still, his working-class roots never left him. When an egg was thrown at him during the 2001 general election campaign in Rhyl, John wasn’t afraid to put his boxing training into action and punch at the agricultural worker Chris Evans, who threw with a left hook jab. He was a man who had a fierce exterior, but, as those who worked closest to him can vouch for, he had the kindest heart. Prescott didn’t suffer fools lightly but passionately believed in improving housing and protecting the environment. If it had not been for this big political beast, New Labour may not have lasted as long. He was that left-leaning influence that stopped Labour from running away totally to the centre ground and was a constant reminder that this party was born out of the trade union movement and the working class. A great servant who sat firmly between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and stopped the wheels coming off the Labour Party machinery. A political served who would be ushered out at the Labour Party conference to rally the troops with a barnstorming speech and put the knife into the Conservative opposition. A man who wasn’t frightened to denounce Labour’s stance on the invasion of Iraq and the disastrous consequences of the war on the country. A sexed-up dossier that had no substance and one which left Blair’s political legacy in tatters. One of the few supporters in the core of the Labour Party for Jeremy Corbyn, wielding his political arm until a stroke silenced his political prowess in 2019. A man who if he was a stick of Blackpool rock would have the word ‘Labour’ running through it. A sad day and I mourn his passing as I did John Smith before him in 1994.
