John Prescott: Contentious events

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Main article: John Prescott

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, has attained a series of high government offices and, as Deputy Leader, is a heavyweight figure in Labour Party politics. However, he has been involved in a number of incidents that have caused controversy and widespread public interest.

Contents 1 Brit Awards, 1998 2 Cars and the environment 3 Fighting with a protester 4 Council tax 5 Sexual infidelities and harassment allegations 6 Benefits controversy 7 Croquet controversy 8 Phil Anschutz affair 9 Absent during airport terrorism plot? 10 Comments about Bush Administration 11 Johnathan Prescott involvement 12 References

[edit] Brit Awards, 1998

While attending the Brit Awards in 1998, Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon poured a jug of iced water over Prescott, saying, "This is for the Liverpool Dockers".^[1][2] Dock workers in Liverpool had been involved in a two-year industrial dispute: a strike that had turned into a lockout, until a few weeks earlier. A reporter from the Daily Mirror threw water over Nobacon the following day.^[3]

[edit] Cars and the environment

Prescott was fined for speeding in July 1988, March 1989, January 1991 and January 1997. The last conviction related to an offence on 28 December 1996, when he was found to be driving at 80mph on the M62 at a time when police recommended a 30 mile per hour limit due to ice; he was fined £40 and given three penalty points on his driving licence.^[4]

Prescott has on occasion been criticized for his public behaviour. In 1999, an official chauffeured car was used to transport Prescott and his wife 200 yards from their hotel to the venue of the Labour Party Conference, where Prescott gave a speech on how to encourage people to use public transport. Giving the reasons for this Prescott stated: "Because of the security reasons for one thing and second, my wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about. Have you got another silly question?"^[5]

[edit] Fighting with a protester

The 2001 General Election campaign was marked by an incident when the farmer Craig Evans threw an egg at Prescott, who responded with a punch^[6], hitting the agitator^[7]. A scuffle developed and the two had to be separated by Prescott's police minders. The incident, overshadowing the launch of the Labour party manifesto on that day, was captured by television crews, and frequently replayed during the campaign, causing the name "Two Jags" to be temporarily replaced by "Two Jabs". However, a National Opinion Polls (NOP) poll found that it appeared to do no harm to Prescott and might have benefited his standing among male voters ^[8]. After the election his "superministry" was broken up, leaving him with much reduced responsibilities. In the reshuffle that followed the resignation of Stephen Byers in 2002, he regained many of his former responsibilities for local and regional government, which were moved to a newly-independent Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

[edit] Council tax

In 2003, Prescott gave up a grace and favour flat he rented from the RMT Union in Clapham, South London. Prescott paid £200 a month for the property — a fifth of its market value — but had not declared the flat in the register of members' interests. On 12 January 2006, Prescott apologised after it was revealed that the council tax for the government flat he occupies at Admiralty House was paid from the public purse, rather than his private income. He repaid the amount (which came to £3,830.52 over nearly nine years).^[9]

[edit] Sexual infidelities and harassment allegations

At the 1996 Labour conference, Mr Prescott laid into the Conservatives on the basis of sleaze and infidelity, saying with reference to the actions of former transport minister Steven Norris: "They are up to their necks in sleaze. The best slogan for their conference next week is 'Life's better under the Tories' — sounds to me like one of Steven Norris's chat-up lines." ^[10]

But on 26 April 2006, Prescott admitted to having had an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, between 2002 and 2004.^[11] The Mail on Sunday broke the news in extracts from Temple's memoirs. These included a range of salacious allegations that were subject to extensive media comment.^[12][13][14]

This two-year affair is said to have commenced after an office party and, in part, took place during meetings at Mr Prescott's grace-and-favour flat in Whitehall. Conservative MP Andrew Robathan tabled questions in the House of Commons over John Prescott's reported entertainment of Ms Temple at Dorneywood, his official residence, which raised questions over the possible mis-use of public finances. ^[15]

Several media organisations noted that Prescott chose to confess his affair the morning after the news broke that the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, had tendered his resignation (to be refused by Tony Blair) after hundreds of prisoners marked for deportation had been released back into the UK^[16], possibly in an attempt to "bury" the news.^[11] However, Prescott and his wife appeared genuinely shocked and upset by the story's breaking, and several political commentators believe that this is a real coincidence.

Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun, told Radio 5 Live: "Learning that John Prescott's had an affair is a bit like learning that Simon Hughes is gay. I mean, everyone knew he has affairs. He's had a string of affairs throughout his life and this has come as no surprise."^[17]

On 30 April 2006, a "former senior Labour aide" Tricia McDaid was reported in the Sunday Times as accusing Prescott of being, in the paper's headline, "a serial groper"^[18] with a long record within the Labour Party of aggressive sexual behaviour: "He just jumped on you when he felt like it." The Mail on Sunday also alleged that Mr Prescott had other lovers. Prescott subsequently expressed his intention to complain to the Press Complaints Commission about investigations of his former liaisons, while admitting (alluding to the Temple affair), "I have acted stupidly."^[19]

However, press comment had now moved on to discuss the wider issues of harassment involved, ^[20] in the light of which some backbenchers withdrew support for Prescott.^[21] On May 7, a story in The Sunday Times quoted Linda McDougall, wife of Austin Mitchell MP, as saying that in 1978 Prescott had put his hand up her skirt as he came through the door to a lecture meeting: Mr Prescott had not met McDougall before. Geraldine Smith, the MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said that many female colleagues in the Parliamentary party would be alarmed at the "worst sort of abuse of power" by Mr Prescott if the allegations against him are true. She added, "We have tried to combat that within the Labour Party for years. It is as old as Adam, the male employer taking advantage of a young female employee, and I don't think it looks good."^[22]

Further controversy came about when political bloggers revealed the name of another alleged mistress, the MP Rosie Winterton. Both parties have refused to either confirm or deny the allegations, refusing to respond to questions on the matter.

On 30th July, it was revealed that Tricia McDaid had filed suit for sexual harassment ^[23].

[edit] Benefits controversy

Despite losing most of his previous sub-departments, Prescott kept his £134,000 a year Cabinet salary, chauffeured Jaguar car, his grace-and-favour flat at Admiralty Arch and the official country residence Dorneywood, in Buckinghamshire. This sparked fresh criticism and controversy: the next day's Sun newspaper, rather than focusing on Labour's losses in the local elections, devoted their front page to Mr Prescott's pay with the headline "Prezza is screwing us all", saying that Prescott's benefits and salary would cost £600,000 in total, based on the £104,000 expenses he claimed, £134,000 Cabinet salary, £300,000/annum cost of his houses, and £49,000 for his chauffeured car.^[24]

The Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, remarked, "John Prescott loses his department but keeps the trappings of office [...] If you're looking for ways to cut waste in government, you can start with John Prescott." Criticism also came from backbench Labour MPs Kate Hoey and Geraldine Smith.^[25] At the first PMQs after Prescott's demotion, Conservative MP John Maples commented on Prescott's "nine years of unremitting incompetence", joking that it was "better to pay the deputy prime minister for not running a department than running one".^[26]

Despite Prescott being stripped of his department it has emerged that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister still continues as a Whitehall department - costing £1.3million a year. Other expenses bring the bill to £2million.^[27]

[edit] Croquet controversy

On 25 May 2006 Prescott was photographed playing croquet at his then "grace and favour" home Dorneywood — at which time Tony Blair was on holiday in Italy and Prescott was the acting Prime Minister. The pictures were published in the Mail on Sunday^[28], leading to further calls for his resignation.

The Labour MP Paul Clark, Prescott's parliamentary aide, offered the explanation that the game had been part of an office team-building exercise, nominally to discuss a departmental reorganisation.^[29] On the evening of 31 May 2006, Prescott announced that he was to give up Dorneywood in an attempt to draw a line under the matter.^[30]

[edit] Phil Anschutz affair

It was reported in July 2006 that Prescott has visited the Colorado ranch of Phil Anschutz, the American billionaire developer of the Millennium Dome, which Anschutz wishes to convert into a "Super Casino", seeing Anschutz on seven occasions in all. Anschutz has reportedly threatened to reduce his investment in the Dome from $600m to $325m if permission for a casino is not granted.^[31] Prescott's own assertion has been that the visits did not involve any discussion of uses of, or planning permission for, the Dome, and that the only topic they discussed was the career of William Wilberforce, the campaigner against slavery (and also against gambling), a predecessor of Prescott as a Hull MP. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats however, have alleged a conflict of interest, as Prescott had been chairman of the Cabinet committee responsible for developmental planning in the UK.

On 5 July 2006 it was announced that the affair is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Philip Mawer. As the same time, Prescott added the connection to the Register of Members' Interests, despite official claims the previous day that the inclusion was unnecessary, as Prescott had been on official government business. The Commissioner's report is anticipated to be completed by the end of July 2006.

[edit] Absent during airport terrorism plot?

Whilst Tony Blair was on holiday during August 2006, John Prescott was in charge of the country but there was considerable comment about John Reid chairing key cabinet committees on the plot and Prescott being put in charge of the heatwave. The Herald said "Dr John Reid, the Home Secretary, who appears, in Tony Blair's absence, to have taken the reins of power from John Prescott, the downsized minister for heatwaves" ^[32] whilst the Daily Mail commented "His [Tony Blair] deputy, meanwhile, was the object of derision after Home Secretary John Reid seized control of the crisis, sidelining Mr Prescott who is supposed to be running the country".^[33]

As an example of the mood, the satirical magazine Private Eye, on the cover of their 18 August 2006 edition (issue 1165), featured a picture of John Reid saying, under the heading 'Terror Plot Foiled', "I'd like to reassure the public that John Prescott is not in charge".^[34]

[edit] Comments about Bush Administration

He was involved in a further controversy in mid-August 2006. It was reported by the Labour MP Harry Cohen that Prescott branded the Bush administration's handling of the Middle East 'Road map for peace' as "crap". Cohen described the comment as, "an honest and good point, well made". Prescott was also reported to have made a further comment describing United States President George W. Bush as a "cowboy", though Mr Cohen said this second remark was a joke about Mr Prescott's own troubles over the gift of a cowboy suit from Phil Anschutz.^[35]

The comments were said to have been made in a private meeting between Muslim Labour MPs, and also some MPs from constituencies with large Muslim communities. So far Prescott has denied these comments, and said that the conversation in question was taken completely out of context.^[36] When Mr Cohen was advised that other people at the meeting could not recall the Deputy Prime Minister making either of the comments, he replied, "He did. I stand by that." ^[37]

[edit] Johnathan Prescott involvement

Questions have been tabled in the House of Commons about any links that Prescott might have had with the business of Johnathan Prescott, his eldest son. The Guardian reported "John Prescott was facing questions about his son's business dealings amid claims that he was cashing in on his father's house-building plans....There is no suggestion that the Deputy Prime Minister's son has done anything illegal. But shadow communities and local government minister Caroline Spelman said she would be tabling a series of parliamentary questions about the issue."^[38]

The Sunday Times reported that Johnathan Prescott has also been embroiled in a row over claims that he used the deputy prime minister’s official apartment in Whitehall for a private business meeting to discuss a property scheme. Contractors involved in the scheme to overhaul a property in southwest London allegedly met Johnathan Prescott in Admiralty House.^[39]

[edit] References