John Prescott: Labour’s pugnacious stalwart who pulled no punches | Politics News

John Leslie Prescott was born on 31 May 1938 in Prestatyn, Wales, to his parents John and Phyllis.

He came from working-class roots, with his father working on the railways and his grandfather a miner.

In his autobiography, Pulling No Punches, he described his father as an „old-fashioned socialist“ who „believed in fairness and equality“, but that he also had a „meanness“ and made his mother „very unhappy“ at times.

But he described her as „just as strong a character as he was“ who also came from a socialist background – with her own father being a union branch official for 50 years.

A year after his birth and with his mother pregnant with his brother Ray, his father was called up to fight in the war and in 1940, after being shot in the knee, he had to have his leg amputated.

By the age of four and now with a sister, Dawn, he had moved to Yorkshire for his father to take up a post as a controller back on the railways, just in time to pick up his trademark accent.

He attended Brinsworth Manor School in the village of the same name, which had an air-raid shelter in the playground.

„I don’t remember being scared of the bombs, or of the Germans,“ he wrote. „It was quite exciting really for boys of my age. Being at war was all we’d ever know.“

By the end of the war, three had become four when his second sister, Vivien, was born.

Prescott said he was „never very good at lessons or very interested, just sort of average“, but he was getting an education in what was to come, watching his father become involved in local union matters, become a councillor and eventually chairman of the authority.

He failed the 11 plus exam to get into the local grammar, instead attending Grange Secondary Modern School in Ellesmere Port after another family move, and he said „the chip on his shoulder got bigger“ as a result.

He took up boxing and played parts in the school plays, but wrote: „I had no idea whatsoever what I wanted to do in life. I never had a fantasy of being an engine driver or a pilot or a footballer, none of the usual schoolboy things.

„I didn’t think about the future. I took each day as it came and never worried about tomorrow.“

After a fifth child, Adrian, was added to the family, his parents eventually divorced, and both re-married.

Prescott left school at 15 with no qualifications and began working life as a hotel porter back in North Wales, before becoming a commis chef and being sent by a hotel to catering college.

He was suspended for a few months after a row about the poor conditions and pay with his bosses, and after two years set his sights on something bigger.

Prescott joined the Merchant Navy in 1955 where he began as a waiter, eventually conquering his seasickness, and travelling the world.

He regularly saw famous people on his voyages, including former Prime Minister Anthony Eden shortly after he resigned in 1957, when he travelled by boat to New Zealand to „get away from everything“.

It was around this time, in 1956, that he first joined the Labour Party aged 17, leafleting and campaigning on the doorstep around big elections.

On these lengthy journeys, he took up boxing again as the crews put on bouts to entertain the passengers, although the successes weren’t marked with grand prizes.

„I remember winning two bottles of beer and two hours‘ overtime – and I was presented with my big winnings by Sir Anthony,“ said Prescott.

It was during this time that he met his future wife Pauline „Tilly“ Tilston at a bus stop when home in Chester from his trip to New Zealand.

„I went across, we chatted and I asked her if she’d like to go to the pictures,“ he recalled. „She said yes, so we made a date.

„We were both on the rebound, so it was fortunate timing. Can’t remember what the film was, but I know she talked all the way through it and I was a bit embarrassed.“

After a courtship that involved a lot of dancing at jazz clubs, the pair married in 1961, despite his brother Ray losing the rings on the day.

Prescott became an active unionist in the National Union of Seamen (NUS), taking over from his catering studies, but was critical of the way it was run.

Wildcat strikes were taking place in ports up and down the country over working conditions, but he focused on fighting the injustices within the organisation, meaning he was unpopular with strikers and union bosses, as well as captains.

But he led reform in the union and, at 22, gave his first public speech to 2,000 men, winning them over.

His ambition was to be a full-time union official „to change the structure, get rid of the dead wood and improve conditions for all seamen“, and eventually his union bosses suggested he apply to study at Ruskin College – well-known for running courses for union officials – saying: „They wanted me out of their hair.“

But despite winning a scholarship, a run-in with a union boss saw it taken off him, meaning he had to fund the diploma in economics and politics himself.

On 5 April 1963, his first child, Johnathan, was born – the same year he started at Ruskin, having managed to secure funding from the local council by claiming he wanted to become a schoolteacher.

He said it was the happiest time of his life, even if he didn’t always fit in.

„I felt no connection with Oxford students, getting p****d, staying up all night,“ he wrote. „I was there to study, to learn, not doss about.“

In his second year at Ruskin, Prescott was also named as the Labour Party agent in Chester, which he said was his „first real experience of party-political work“.

After he got his diploma, he returned home to Chester and after a brief stint working for the General and Municipal Workers Union, he went on to study economics and economic history at the University of Hull aged 27 after finding a loophole back into the NUS.

This time, Prescott brought his family with him and rather than throwing himself into student politics, he got more involved at a local level, campaigning in a by-election in Hull North,

When Harold Wilson called a snap election in 1966, the unions sought out candidates for what he described as „no hoper“ seats where Labour didn’t stand a chance, and he took the opportunity while carrying on with his studies.

„I didn’t win, of course,“ he wrote. „We got 12,000 votes while the Tories romped home with 22,000, but I did improve our position by increasing our share of the vote.“

He continued at Hull, eventually graduating with a third, but he also continued his work for the union, helping organise a strike of National Union of Seamen members over their hours and pay, leading to nearly 20,000 of them walking off their ships.

But come 1968, it was back to the campaign trail, with Prescott selected to run for the seat Kingston upon Hull East at the 1970 election.

„I hadn’t honestly ever planned to be an MP,“ he said. „It had never been my main ambition, either when I was at sea or working for the union.

„But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that if I got in I might have a better opportunity to improve the conditions of seamen and repeal the old master-servant merchant shipping legislation.“

Aged 32, he beat his Conservative rival Norman Lamont – who later won his own seat and ended up as chancellor under John Major – by 22,000 votes on the day his wife was due to give birth to their second child, but David arrived four days late.

During his first parliament, Prescott focused on his campaigns, mostly the plights of seafarers, and quickly found himself on the frontbench as Labour’s shipping spokesman.

He also held delegate roles in Europe despite his scepticism of the institution, played for the House’s football team, and found himself sharing a flat with Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner, with his wife referring to the pair as „the odd couple“.

At Skinner’s request, he joined the Tribune group of left-wing MPs, but still had an attitude of „changing from within“ the system, hence his EU role.

And he was already getting stick for his love of Jaguars – something that played a part in his nickname „two jags“ later in his career.

„People have always made remarks about my Jag, about someone like me, from my background, driving such a car, but I could never see the problem,“ he wrote.

„I remember Austin Mitchell, MP for Grimsby, saying to me one day, ‚how do you drive a Jaguar, John?‘. ‚Easy,‘ I said. ‚Put the key in the ignition and away you go. How do you drive yours?'“

Come the next parliament in 1974, he took his first step on the ministerial ladder, becoming a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) for Trade Secretary Peter Shore.

He checked he would still have the freedom to pursue his own campaigns, but Wilson had other ideas, and after two years he told the then PM to „stick your PPS“ before storming out.

But this left Prescott free to play a big part in ending the Cod Wars between Iceland and the UK, as well as more localised issues, such as the riots at Hull Prison.

Thrown back into opposition in the 1980s, and now into his 40s, some of the same campaigns continued and he turned down the chance of being European Commissioner.

He supported Michael Foot as party leader but says in his book he soon realised it had been the wrong decision, saying while he was a „wonderful“ man, he was „not a party leader“.

During his tenure, Prescott served as the shadow spokesman for transport, fighting against Margaret Thatcher’s plans to privatise buses and trains, and shadow spokesman for regional affairs and devolution.

But there was still time to campaign on maritime issues and in 1983, after an uproar about nuclear waste being dumped in the seas, Greenpeace and unions turned to him to highlight the issue.

„They wanted me to swim down the Thames,“ he wrote.

So dressed in frogman’s gear, with a mask, oxygen and in a wet suit, he did just that – swimming two miles down the river before a boat picked him up, then walking in his full garb to Downing Street to deliver the petition.

„It made a great series of photos,“ wrote Prescott. „But, of course, I had a very serious purpose.“

As the 1980s wore on, Labour’s far left gave way to Neil Kinnock’s leadership and the pair were at loggerheads over the miner’s strike.

Kinnock wanted to crack down on the unions while Prescott joined the picket lines as the miners had supported the seamens‘ strikes he had been involved with years earlier.

They fell out over other issues as well, including the creation of public sector jobs.

But Prescott remained on the frontbench, heading back to transport as a shadow minister before taking on the employment brief – a huge issue of the decade that the party planned to fight the election on.

Kinnock also persuaded him to run for the National Executive Committee „aiming to keep Ken Livingstone out“, which led to 25 years on the NEC.

It was also this time that two big figures that would end up defining his career entered parliament – Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Prescott and Brown bonded over their belief in Scottish devolution, but the pair were not part of the main campaign groups and he had little to do with them in their early years.

„Kinnock recognised their worth very early on,“ said Prescott. „But to me, they were still just OK guys – not offensive,

„To us old hands, from trade union backgrounds, they were a new sort of Labour politician. I called them the Beautiful People… I was firmly old Labour and they were a new breed.“

But it was John Smith who impressed Prescott most, saying he was a moderniser and „able to connect with all parts of the party – definitely more than Blair or Brown“.

In 1988, he challenged Kinnock’s deputy, Roy Hattersely, for the job, leaving the Labour leader furious. But ultimately he failed, getting just 24% of the vote compared to Hattersley’s 67%.

Prescott still remained on the shadow frontbench, moving this time to the energy brief before yet again returning to transport – energy went to Blair and Brown had taken on shadow chancellor.

But come 1992 Kinnock was out after yet another defeat at the general election – replaced by the impressive Smith – and Prescott failed again to win the deputy leadership race, with Margaret Beckett taking the post.

He did, however, begin getting to know Blair and Brown better, describing how the pair chatted to him „nervously“ for half an hour – „clearly an attempt to improve relations, perhaps at the suggestion of John Smith“.

And while he continued to disagree with the new leader on a number of positions – Prescott described himself as anti-EU, for example – he said it never spoiled their relationship, keeping him on the party’s frontbench.

And many point to Prescott’s closing speech of the Labour Party conference in 1993, speaking up for Smith over the one member one vote system, as a key moment in his career.

After Smith’s untimely death in 1994, Prescott ran for both the leadership and deputy leadership. But while he lost out to the young upstart Blair for the top job, he did secure second in command – giving a working class and more trade unionist sympathetic balance to Blair’s incoming New Labour ways.

„I knew I had no chance (against Blair),“ he wrote: „But it gave me a chance to put forward my policies.“

In the run-up to the 1997 election, the leader and deputy did not always see eye to eye behind the scenes, whether it be over nationalisation or rebranding as „New Labour“.

He even considered resigning when the so-called Beautiful People excluded him from meetings on election strategy.

But he stayed to fight his cause and come 1997, having been promised the post by Blair, his support was rewarded after an historic win for Labour win at the ballot box with the posts of deputy prime minister and secretary of state for the environment, transport and the regions.

The so-called „super ministry“ led to a raft of policies under his name, but one of the major ones he brokered was the Kyoto Protocol.

The United Nations treaty saw 41 countries plus the EU sign up to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990s levels, and was seen as the most significant environmental treaty ever negotiated.

But perhaps the incident that made Prescott a household name came a little later – and we aren’t even talking about him having a bucket of icy water thrown over him by Chumbawamba at the 1998 Brit awards…

In 2001, he was out on the campaign trail in Rhyl during what is known as one of the least contentious elections of modern times.

He was attending a Labour rally filled with supporters on the day the party had launched its manifesto, but first he had to get through a group of rural protesters outside that included one man, Craig Evans.

As he moved through the crowd, Evans launched an egg straight at the deputy PM’s head, and in turn, Prescott turned and, in his own words, gave him „an instinctive boxer’s jab with the left fist“.

After a scuffle, the pair were pulled apart and he carried on with the event, although witnesses said he appeared very shaken by the incident.

Recounting his conversation with Blair afterwards, Prescott said: „When I spoke to Tony I explained that it wasn’t my fault, I hadn’t started it, but he said I shouldn’t have done it, even if I had been provoked. After all I was the deputy prime minister.

„‚I might be‘, I said, ‚but I am also an ordinary bloke, and an ordinary bloke would react as I did‘.“

It was not his only appearance in the front pages through the Blair years, however.

In 2006, he admitted to having had a two-year affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, telling the Daily Mirror the pair had met at an office party and subsequently held secret meetings in his government-owned flat.

„I’ll always feel guilty and ashamed,“ he wrote in his memoirs. „I made a terrible mistake, but let’s leave it at that.

„I know I can never make it up to Pauline. She has been a rock and put up with a lot because of me. But she has always stood by me.“

Soon after his affair came to light and a disastrous performance at the local elections, a reshuffle took place and he lost his department.

When Blair left Number 10 in 2007, Prescott resigned as well. He said he felt „sort of displaced, not knowing what to do with myself, where I fit in“ and was dubbed „Mr Grumpy“ by his children.

He stayed on as an MP until the next election, but stepped down from the cabinet in 2008, writing his biography alongside British author Hunter Davies – and facing accusations by some critics that he timed its release to damage the new incumbent in Number 10, Mr Brown.

But come the next election, he was back on his battle bus – a customised white transit van – travelling around the country and telling the public Brown was a „global giant“.

Before that though, and ahead of being awarded a life peerage in 2010 to become Baron Prescott, of Kingston upon Hull in the County of East Yorkshire, he had a few more brushes with the media.

In 2008, ahead of his memoirs being published, he revealed to The Times that he had suffered from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa from the 1980s until 2007.

In the book, he wrote: „I’ve never confessed it before. Out of shame, I suppose, or embarrassment – or just because it’s such a strange thing for someone like me to confess to.

„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 put it down to stress, adding: „I wasn’t doing it all the time, and there would be gaps of weeks and months, but during those years when we first got into power, I let things get on top of me and took refuge in stuffing my face.“

Prescott also turned his hand to documentaries in 2008 and 2009, making two BBC Two series about the class system in Britain and the North/South divide in England.

But in May of the same year, he hit the front pages again for his part in the MPs expenses scandal, with the Daily Telegraph revealing he had claimed £312 for fitting mock Tudor beams to his constituency home, and for two new toilet seats in as many years.

He told the newspaper: „Every expense was within the rules of the House of Commons on claiming expenses at the time.“

Once in the Lords, it didn’t stop him from trying for a few more elected positions. In 2010, he was defeated in the contest to become treasurer for the Labour Party.

And in 2012, he attempted to become Humberside Police’s first Police and Crime Commissioner – but despite getting the most first preference votes, lost out in the second round of counting to the Conservative candidate.

Prescott did make a brief political comeback as an advisor to Ed Miliband in 2015, but it was shortly before Labour lost its second general election in a row.

In recent years, more TV appearances took up his time, including his own series called Made in Yorkshire, another called British Made, and a cameo in BBC comedy favourite Gavin and Stacey.

But he began to battle more health issues and in June 2019 was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary with a stroke.

Prescott’s public appearances became rarer after that, and his last appearance in the House of Lords was in November 2022, talking about one of his great passions – the fight against climate change.

He was also still happy to nod to his headline hitters when posing for a photo with comedian Omid Djalili a few months earlier.

And perhaps it will be that spirit, that character, and that keen right hook, that will see the long-standing, passionate and mould-breaking politician remembered for a long time to come.