Getty PhotographsJohn Prescott, the previous deputy top minister and Labour veteran, has died elderly 86, his circle of relatives has introduced.
The previous business union activist served as Sir Tony Blair’s deputy for 10 years after Labour’s 1997 election landslide.
In a observation saying his demise, Lord Prescott’s spouse and two sons mentioned he were in a care house lately residing with Alzheimer’s.
“We’re deeply saddened to let you know that our cherished husband, father and grandfather, John Prescott, passed on to the great beyond peacefully the day before today on the age of 86,” they mentioned.
“He did so surrounded via the affection of his circle of relatives and the jazz track of Marian Sir Bernard Law.”
In a profession that stretched again over part a century, Lord Prescott was once first elected as MP for Hull East in 1970 and went on to carry the seat for nearly 40 years.
Lord Prescott joined the shadow cupboard in 1983 with accountability for shipping.
Between 1997 and 2007, he was once deputy to former Top Minister Tony Blair and won a peerage in 2010.
His retirement from the Commons, and spoil from frontline politics, didn’t remaining lengthy as 5 years later he was once advising Ed Miliband and, in 2017, supporting Jeremy Corbyn.
Lord Prescott ceased to be a member of the Space of Lords in July of this yr because of non-attendance, having most effective spoken as soon as within the chamber since struggling a stroke in 2019. He had no longer voted since February 2023, in line with professional information.
Born in Prestatyn, Wales, Lord Prescott left college at 15 and labored as a steward within the Service provider Army. He then studied at Ruskin School in Oxford, sooner than coming into politics.
“John spent his lifestyles seeking to toughen the lives of others, preventing for social justice and protective the surroundings, doing so from his time as a waiter at the cruise liners to turning into Britain’s longest serving Deputy Top Minister,” his circle of relatives mentioned.
“John dearly cherished his house of Hull and representing its other folks in Parliament for 40 years was once his biggest honour.”
Lord Prescott married his spouse, Pauline, in 1961 they usually had two youngsters in combination – David and Jonathan.
Getty PhotographsHe was once nicknamed “two jags” via the click after it emerged he had two Jaguar automobiles. However in 2021, he published he not had a motor automobile, pronouncing “I’m now 0 Jags”.
He additionally famously punched a person who threw an egg at him whilst at the basic election marketing campaign path in Rhyl, North Wales in 2001.
After photos of the incident seemed in press around the globe, a brand new nickname of “two jabs” was once coined for him via reporters.
Lord Prescott mentioned he had acted in self-defence and police refused to take to any extent further motion. Next newspaper polls urged most of the people supported his response.
Commenting on the time, Sir Tony mentioned: “John is John”.
Despite the fact that a devoted supporter of Sir Tony all through his time in administrative center, Lord Prescott was once later crucial of Britain’s involvement within the Iraq battle, telling the BBC that the 2003 invasion of the rustic “can’t be justified”.
To the wonder of a lot of his supporters, he approved a peerage in 2010 in spite of reportedly having as soon as mentioned: “I do not wish to be a member of the Space of Lords. I can no longer settle for it.”
He defended the verdict as a result of it will give him persevered affect over environmental coverage.
However his maximum tough interventions in Lords debates concerned attacking the federal government’s reaction to the phone-hacking scandal.
For Lord Prescott, the subject was once private – his legal professionals alleged the Information of the Global had positioned him beneath surveillance, and in 2012 he received a pay out from the paper’s mother or father corporate, Information Global.
His circle of relatives thanked NHS docs and nurses who cared for him after his stroke in 2019 and the “devoted body of workers on the care house the place he passed on to the great beyond after latterly residing with Alzheimer’s”.
“As you’ll be able to consider, our circle of relatives must procedure our grief so we respectfully request time and area to mourn in non-public.”
