John Prescott (1)

If you are interested in British politics at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, you will have an opinion of John Prescott.

Prescott was the fulcrum around which Old Labour re-invented itself and became an electable force once more. He was not the ideas man, he was the facilitator. It was Prescott that persuaded the trade unions, and a sizeable number of left wing Labour members to follow Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the rest of the modernisers.

The best thing about Prezza is that he is essentially honest. I have read many biographies and autobiographies of this period and this book is a sort of honesty test for the rest: if John says it happened in such a way, it almost certainly did. Prescott is also disarmingly honest about his own failings; he was caught out in an affair with his secretary. What does a politician say in these circumstances? She trapped me; it was the pressure of working away from home, power is an aphrodisiac... Well, not John. He says,"I was a bl**dy fool.

The interesting thing that comes out of this book is confirmation of the decency and honesty of Tony Blair. Prescott wrote the book after leaving the government and, I am sure that his publishers would have loved him to dish the dirt but Prescott only criticises Blair's handling of Gordon Brown, who he believes to have been promised the job of PM long before Tony finally made way.

Blair, Brown, Mandelson and Campbell have all had books that have received a higher profile but, I suspect that history may find this the most significant.… (altro)