Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has died aged 86 following a battle with Alzheimer's, his family has announced. Lord Prescott was a key figure of Sir Tony Blair's New Labour project, seen by many as custodian of the party's traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership.
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00:00A boxer in his youth, John Prescott was never one to back away from a fight.
00:09His pugnacity in the ring would transfer to his work with the unions, the Labour Party
00:14and to the top of British government.
00:20Born in North Wales in 1938 and raised in Yorkshire and Cheshire, John Leslie Prescott
00:26joined the Merchant Navy after failing the 11-plus and leaving school at 15.
00:31He was a member of the National Union of Seamen and was heavily involved in the National Strike
00:36of 1966.
00:48He became Labour MP for Kingston-upon-Hull East in the 1970 election.
00:53Although he was from the traditional socialist wing of the party, in the early 90s he became
00:57an enthusiastic backer of the New Labour Project, first helping then-leader John Smith to ditch
01:03the union block vote in favour of one member, one vote.
01:16And then, after Smith's sudden death in 1994, Prescott was elected as Deputy Labour Leader
01:22with Tony Blair securing the top job.
01:25The two men could not have been more different.
01:36Whilst the smooth-talking Blair was the man to relay the New Labour message, the unvarnished
01:41Prescott rolled into towns on his battle bus to rally traditional Labour supporters.
01:47We could never have done these three terms, we could never have made the changes in the
01:51Labour Party without John as Deputy Leader.
01:54He brought something, I think, very special and very important to the whole Labour Party
01:58project in government.
02:00He was a man of contradictions.
02:02Despite many seeing Prescott as tactless and undiplomatic, he was a disarming public performer
02:08with a down-to-earth nature.
02:10I'll be in trouble again, I think, now.
02:21Having punched an egg-thrower on one visit to North Wales, he then rescued a kayaker
02:25in Snowdonia on a whitewater rafting trip.
02:28Are you going to take up kayaking, Mr Prescott?
02:31He was the trade union Labour man from a solidly working-class background who was once mocked
02:36in the press for playing croquet, and for his decision to take one of his two jags
02:41on a 250-yard trip to protect his wife Pauline's hair.
02:45My wife doesn't like to have her hair blown about.
02:47Have you got another silly question?
02:49He was the tough, rough northerner who occasionally showed his vulnerable side.
02:53In 2006, he revealed he had had a two-year extramarital affair with his secretary, Tracey
02:58Temple, a relationship he said he regressed.
03:02In 2008, he revealed he had suffered from bulimia, helping to destigmatise a disorder
03:08more commonly associated with teenage girls and young women.
03:12I found it difficult, as a man like me, to admit that I suffered from bulimia.
03:18The doctors told me it was probably due to stress.
03:21I suffered bulimia for about ten years, and I eventually managed to control it and to
03:26stop it a few years ago.
03:28I do want to say to millions of people who suffer from bulimia in silence, to be more
03:34open about it and to seek the medical help, as I did.
03:37I do hope they'll take my advice.
03:39He resigned as deputy PM in 2007, at the same time as Tony Blair, and was made a Lord in 2010.
03:46He continued to be an ebullient supporter and campaigner for the Labour Party.
03:51And we're going to win, aren't we?
03:54In 2019, he was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary after suffering a stroke, and only returned
04:00to public duties seven months later.
04:04In a Blair government defined by spin and media relations, John Prescott was the man
04:09that couldn't and wouldn't be spun.
04:12It was his greatest strength and weakness.
04:14That's life.
04:15We get on with the job.