John Prescott: A politician who packs a punch

Jul 4 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

In his autobiography, the former deputy prime minister describes himself as a conciliator, not a confrontationalist. He tells Peter Elson why

WHY did John Prescott write his autobiography? Because he was fed up with being misquoted.

But guess what happened. The book was serialised by a leading Sunday newspaper and they severed many of his quotations, giving the opposite to what he intended.

You can practically see the steam bursting out of the Prescott ears as he relates how his latest record-straightening attempt foundered.

But did he suffer such a bad press? Prescott, 70, says: “They like pantomime time with goodies and baddies. I always seemed to be a baddie.

“For example, in excerpts from my book, they said I urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown and added the latter was prickly and annoying. But I didn’t say that, Tony did, but it also failed to complete the sentence that he also thought Gordon was brilliant and innovative.

“After lots of discussion, Tony would say he was fed up with Gordon, so I said, ‘Well, sack him then’. When Gordon said he was fed up and wanted to get out, I replied ‘Well, resign then’. So, if you’re sacking or resigning can you get out, if not, can we get on with the job?

“I’m very sorry if it looked like my book was an attack on Gordon Brown. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Interestingly, in 1970, Prescott was elected to become MP for Hull, beating the Tory candidate Norman Lamont, the future Chancellor.

“I just note that Gordon Brown was a far more successful Chancellor than Norman Lamont. That’s still the question today and Gordon Brown is still the best man, as I’ve seen him up close making difficult decisions,” he says.

He is aware that, in writing this book, various matters such as his affair with his secretary Tracey Temple have been raked up.

“Yes, I understand that. A lot of people have been hurt, not least my wife Pauline, and I’ve let them down. I have apologised. But if I hadn’t mentioned that in the book then I’d have been criticised for leaving it out.”

The book also covers his astonishing rise from an Ellesmere Port boy who failed his 11-plus, worked as a Cunard Line steward out of Liverpool, entered the trade unions, became a mature student at Ruskin College, Oxford, and eventually went into politics.

He is quite bashful when I suggest such a phenomenal career trajectory is inspirational to all those with ambition.

“Well, er, I don’t know about that. You shouldn’t get carried away. Of course, I’m proud that what I’ve experienced acts as an extra amount of influence to represent those people you have come into politics to help.

“One thing that’s helped me is returning to Liverpool each year when all the lads off the m/v Britannic meet. I knew them 40 years ago and they’re still my friends.

“I’ve got the wonderful Liverpool artist Ted Walker’s fabulous painting of my first ship, Franconia, in my office above my desk. It reminds me of the life I thoroughly enjoyed.”

He saw his job as Labour’s deputy leader ensuring that the party’s traditional values survived in the modern setting.

In spite of what the public might think of John Prescott’s image as a confrontation- alist, he demurs claiming he is a conciliator – and not just for Blair and Brown.

“Most of my political life I’ve played that role. At sea, I spent half the time trying to get people to agree and make change,” he says.