John Prescott: A politician who packs a punch

Jul 4 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (158) (copy)

Not a man to put up with egg on his face

ONE of John Prescott’s most memorable television appearances was punching a by-stander in Rhyl, North Wales, who had thrown an egg at him.

“It was the day we launched our manifesto and I ‘made a connection with the electorate’. I hoped it would not affect us,” says Prescott, whose book title obliquely refers to this incident.

“But when someone belts you and you feel this warm liquid coming down, you don’t necessarily think it’s an egg and you deal with it the best way you can – and that’s the way I am. Tony said to me I should apologise and I said that I’d no intention of doing so. Would an ordinary guy do any different? And Tony replied, ‘You’re not an ordinary guy, John, you’re deputy prime minister’.

“Well, in my deputy prime minister role, I’ve always stayed feet on the ground and as orderly as possible – and got up the nose of an awful lot of journalists.”

Unsurprisingly, Prescott’s one-word description of himself is “defiant”.

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