Politicians who played a role in Labour’s return

John Prescott was an old-fashioned political bruiser who played a key role in the New Labor project.

He scorns so-called “pretty people” – smart-suited people with red roses and mobile phones who are the new face of Labour.

But he was a key figure in the campaign to sell modernization to the party and pave the way for Labor to regain power after 18 years in opposition to Tony Blair who won a landslide in 1997.

At the end of his political career, several embarrassments – including affairs and accusations of ministerial misconduct – threatened to tarnish his image.

But as deputy prime minister for 10 years and part of the team that won three consecutive election victories, his place in Labor history is secure.

John Leslie Prescott was born in Prestatyn, then in Flintshire, on 31 May 1938. His father was a railway signalman and his mother came from a mining family.

Although his family left Wales when he was four years old, he remained proud of his heritage and always considered himself Welsh.

He was a trainee chef when he left school at 15 and then worked for eight years as a steward on a passenger liner, becoming active in the National Union of Seamen.

In 1962, he entered Ruskin College, Oxford, where he obtained a diploma in economics and politics, and then went to the University of Hull to study for an economics degree.

Active in the merchant seamen’s strike of 1966, he served as an officer in the National Union of Seamen for two years before his election, in 1970, as MP for Hull East, sponsored by the union.

John Prescott became Labour’s frontbench spokesman in May 1979 and joined the shadow cabinet in 1983, gaining a reputation as a good and knowledgeable spokesman on transport.

That same year his showman instincts saw him swim two miles down the Thames to highlight his opposition to Margaret Thatcher’s government policy of dumping nuclear waste at sea.

But it was Labor leader John Smith who finally gave John Prescott political room to breathe, playing a key role in selling modernization to the party and the unions.

It was John Smith who kick-started Labor’s slow return to power, overturning many of the party’s most cherished principles in the drive to make it electable again.

And John Prescott, with his strong union links and no-nonsense approach, gave him significant support, not least in the abolition of union block voting which had been Labor policy for years.

When Tony Blair became leader, following the death of John Smith in 1994, he also understood the importance of keeping John Prescott on board.

The Hull East MP is deputy leader and deputy prime minister with departmental responsibility for transport and the environment.

He promised to create an integrated transport system and said his success would be measured by reducing the number of people who had to use cars.

This caused him great embarrassment when, at the 1999 Labor conference, he used the minister’s car – a Jaguar – for the 200-yard journey back to his hotel.

In typical Prescott style, he claims that his wife Pauline’s hair will not be blown away.

But the politician, who also owns a Jaguar, was later dubbed “the two Jags” in the press.

He once described himself as a guard on the Labor Train – ready to slow down if it was moved off the tracks. But his solid working-class credentials add to his strong support for Tony Blair and Labour’s modernisers.

He campaigned passionately against the Conservative policy of privatizing Britain’s railways and was reportedly angered when Labor failed to implement the renationalisation policy when it returned to power.

His policy of creating an elected regional assembly to oversee a new regional development agency was also affected, when, in a referendum in a pilot area in the North East of England, 78% of people rejected the idea.

He also faces opposition over a project called Pathfinder, which is designed to provide thousands of new homes.

As part of the policy, around 200,000 homes in Northern England were demolished, which critics say, could be renovated at a lower cost.

His passion and excellent style of delivery are constant features.

He repeatedly described New Labour’s mission as delivering “traditional values ​​in a modern setting” – a powerful if slightly unrealistic concept.

Ridiculed by some for fumbling his syntax, he still manages to inject humor into difficult situations – such as when he was criticized for accusing a tired French female minister of not knowing the ins and outs of an environmental summit.

“Am I being accused of being macho – moi?” to the Commons. “I have to say that comment made me the most gutted.”

He made headlines during the 2001 General Election after he was filmed throwing a punch at an egg-throwing member of the public during a protest in Rhyl, Flintshire.

John Prescott said he had acted in self-defense and the police refused to take any further action. Subsequent newspaper polls suggested most people supported the reaction.

Later in the day, John Prescott reportedly had to act as a peacemaker between Tony Blair and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, as speculation about the succession to the leadership ebbed and flowed.

His own comments in the newspaper, that the “tectonic plates” in the Labor Party are moving, gave rise to suggestions for maneuvering in the cabinet.

And when he was seen sharing a car with Gordon Brown and stopping off at a Scottish oyster bar, the rumor mill was that Tony Blair was about to quit.

However, as his career as a member of parliament drew to a close, the headlines surrounding John Prescott focused on his personal life.

In 2006, he admitted to an affair with former secretary Tracey Temple, which led to a raft of lurid stories.

In a cabinet reshuffle shortly after the revelations emerged, John Prescott was removed from the department, although he remained deputy prime minister and was allowed to retain his salary and residence.

In shame, however, he was forced to give up his country pile, Dorneywood, after being pictured in the yard playing croquet with his staff – an image that did not match his declining reputation.

It was later revealed that the US ranch was opened by businessman Philip Anschutz – whose company took over the running of the Millennium Dome and who is bidding to build Britain’s first super casino.

Critics say there is a conflict of interest. John Prescott, who met Mr. Anschutz seven times, failed to disclose the visit for 11 months. He finally said he left because he liked cowboy movies.

The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee ruled that the ministerial code had been breached because the trip was not immediately announced.

Shortly after Tony Blair said he would step down as prime minister, John Prescott announced he would step down as deputy.

He ended his time in government without his own ministerial brief and was seen by many as a peripheral figure.

To the surprise of many of his supporters, he received a peerage in 2010 despite reportedly saying: “I don’t want to be a member of the House of Lords. I won’t accept that.”

He defended the decision because it would have a continuing impact on environmental policy and he refused to treat the red bench as an upscale retirement home, using it as a platform for his campaign.

He continued to serve in the Lords until July this year, when he was impeached for not attending – bringing the curtain down on a parliamentary career spanning more than 50 years.

His strongest intervention in the Lords debate involved attacking the government’s response to the phone-hacking scandal.

For Lord Prescott, the matter is personal – his lawyers say the News of the World has been surveilled, and in 2012 he received a salary from the paper’s parent company, News International.

He was back on the stump again in 2012 when he stood as a candidate in Humberside in the by-election for the new office of police and crime commissioner.

He was said to be disappointed when he lost to his Conservative opponent in the second round of voting.

John Prescott remained a Labor loyalist.

When he finally renounced Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq, he defended his former leader’s legacy and also supported the various leaders who followed him.

He also advised current Labor leader Ed Miliband during the 2015 election.

He is far from Jeremy Corbyn’s natural bedfellow but insists the left-wing campaigner – who opposes almost everything New Labor stands for – has “proved himself”, and urged dissident MPs to support him.

His son David – himself unsuccessful in Parliament – is even part of Jeremy Corbyn’s team.

And speaking at the 2017 Labor conference – the 51st he attended – he said the party was on the way back into government and had a “very exciting” future.

In 2019, he suffered a stroke and was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary. But his former Labor colleague, Alan Johnson, said there was “no sign of him stopping”.

To the end, he represented something different from many of his contemporaries – a Labor MP who had cut his teeth campaigning in the unions rather than a political adviser and believed that political principles should be married to power.