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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHe acted as a mediator in the often turbulent relationship between Blair and Brown, and oversaw government policy on the environment, transport and the regions, helping to negotiate the international Kyoto protocol on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At times short-tempered<\/a>, Prescott once famously punched a protester<\/a> who threw an egg at him during an election campaign visit to north Wales in 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was ennobled in 2010 and introduced to the upper chamber as Lord Prescott of Kingston upon Hull, having served for four decades as an MP for the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blair said in a statement: \u201cThere was nothing about John which fitted conventional wisdom. He was from proud traditional working-class stock yet understood instinctively and completely the aspirations of that class and their desire to better themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe could talk in the bluntest and sometimes bluest language, but it concealed a first-rate intellect which meant he thought as deeply about issues as much as he cared about them. It is no exaggeration to say the Labour party could never have won three consecutive full terms without John. He was a commanding presence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown described Prescott as a \u201ctitan\u201d and a \u201cgentleman\u201d and said that \u201cdespite an outwardly deceptive image of uncompromising toughness, he was generous, believing in the good in everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJohn Lennon said the working-class hero is a difficult thing to be, but I think John would be just fine with being remembered that way. He wanted the good things in life for everyone and not just himself. And he showed that Britain can be a country where if you work hard you can fill your potential,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking on the Today programme, Brown said \u201cBritain has got this image around the world of an aristocratic and still unreformed and sometimes deferential and hierarchical society. John broke through all this. John gave people who were starting from low-income backgrounds the sense that they could achieve something and achieve something right to the point of deputy prime minister \u2013 it\u2019s something that [the deputy prime minister] Angela Rayner talks about now, to her great credit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the same programme, Blair recalled: \u201cHe had this extraordinary instinctive sense that something was afoot. He often used to come in unannounced into my room in Downing Street and he would say to me: \u2018I know you\u2019re up to something, I don\u2019t know quite what it is, but I know you\u2019re up to something.\u2019 And I would be sort of protesting and saying: \u2018No, John, you\u2019ve got it all wrong\u2019 \u2026 and of course he would always be right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blair recounted the moment Prescott punched the egg-throwing protester. \u201cThis caused a huge sort of fracas, obviously. We had to give a press conference in the election campaign the next day \u2026 I just said: \u2018Well, John is John.\u2019 And so was that supposed to be an answer? I said: \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s an answer, that\u2019s as much as you can say.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said Prescott had been \u201ca true giant\u201d of the Labour movement. \u201cHis passion, force of personality and pride in his working-class roots was key to his authenticity \u2013 an honesty that was recognised and respected across the political divide and across the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Al Gore, the former US vice-president who worked with Prescott on the Kyoto protocol in 1997, said he had \u201cnever worked with anyone in politics \u2013 on my side of the pond or his \u2013 quite like John Prescott\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe possessed an inherent ability to connect with people about the issues that mattered to them \u2013 a talent that others spend years studying and cultivating, but that was second nature to him,\u201d Gore said. \u201cHe fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto protocol and was an unwavering champion of climate action for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n William Hague, the former Conservative party leader, said Prescott had been \u201ca formidable debater\u201d who \u201chad a unique ability to speak directly to the concerns of the people he represented\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a point of pride for both of us that we hailed from Rotherham. Although it shaped us in different ways, we shared a certain bluntness in our exchanges \u2013 though in true Yorkshire fashion John usually got straight to the point faster than I did!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prescott\u2019s wife, Pauline, and sons Johnathan and David said he had died \u201csurrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery\u201d and that representing the people of Hull had been \u201chis greatest honour\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJohn spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment, doing so from his time as a waiter on the cruise liners to becoming Britain\u2019s longest-serving deputy prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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