LONDON – British politician John Prescott, a pugnacious and personable former service provider seaman who rose to the publish of deputy prime minister in Tony Blair’s Labour authorities, has died at age 86.
Prescott’s household introduced his demise on Thursday. They stated the politician, who had been affected by Alzheimer’s illness, died in a care dwelling on Wednesday “surrounded by the love of his household and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery.”
The household stated Prescott had “spent his life attempting to enhance the lives of others, preventing for social justice and defending the surroundings.”
For a decade, Prescott introduced grit, humor and working-class authenticity to the federal government of the younger, polished Blair, who grew to become prime minister in 1997.
“He was one of the crucial proficient individuals I ever encountered in politics, one of the crucial dedicated and dependable, and positively probably the most uncommon,” Blair stated.
An newbie boxer in his youth, Prescott had a defining second when he punched a person who threw an egg at him throughout the 2001 normal election.
The uproar briefly appeared prefer it would possibly hurt the Labour Get together, and Prescott’s profession. However Blair’s response -– “John is John” -– cemented his folksy standing.
Born in north Wales in 1938, Prescott left faculty on the age of 15 and labored as a cruise ship steward earlier than coming into politics by way of the commerce union motion — a once-common route that grew to become much less frequent after Blair rebranded the left-leaning social gathering “New Labour” and shifted its politics towards the middle,
Prescott was a proud working-class determine in a rustic that also has few from that background on the prime of politics. He unapologetically preferred the finer issues in life and was nicknamed “Two Jags” by the press as a result of he had two Jaguar luxurious vehicles.
The egg-thrower punching incident earned him one other nickname: “Two Jabs.”
Prescott served as Blair’s deputy between 1997 and 2007. One among his proudest achievements was working with then-U.S. Vice President Al Gore on the landmark Kyoto Protocol local weather change settlement in 1997.
Gore stated he had “by no means labored with anybody in politics — on my facet of the pond or his — fairly like John Prescott.”
“He fought like hell to barter the Kyoto Protocol and was an unwavering champion of local weather motion for many years to return. I’m eternally grateful to John for that dedication to fixing the local weather disaster and can miss him as a pricey good friend,” Gore stated in a press release.
Prescott helped ease the generally tense relationship between Blair and his Treasury chief, Gordon Brown, and acted as a bridge between the social gathering’s traditionalists and Blair’s modernizing faction. Brown stated he was key to maintaining the social gathering collectively after Blair’s controversial choice to affix the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Former Cupboard minister Peter Mandelson, a Blair ally, stated Prescott was “the cement that saved New Labour collectively.”
Prescott represented his dwelling metropolis of Hull in northern England for 4 many years. After Labour misplaced energy in 2010 he was made a member of Parliament’s unelected higher chamber, the Home of Lords.
Brown, who succeeded Blair as prime minister, described Prescott as a real working-class hero.
“He wished the nice issues in life for everybody and never simply himself,” Brown stated. “And he confirmed that Britain is usually a nation the place in the event you work onerous you possibly can fill your potential.”
He’s survived by his spouse Pauline and sons Johnathan and David.
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