| Return to
opening page |
. |
|
Prescott ‘The Bully’Prescott, I am told, will have to go because fundamentally he is not a nice man. Furthermore, he broke the 11th commandment, in that he has been found out.Martin Frost
Prescott, a bully from a more brutal age2006-05-02 Prescott may complain to PCC chief he criticised Don't resign over sex claims, Blair tells Prescott See also John Prescott and his boss at Number 10 would like us to believe he is caught up in nothing more than a passing, private outbreak of infidelity. It is, they assure us, a subject that is properly left for husband and wife to settle as best they can. But no. This is about something that is of greater public interest. It is about bullying. There are many aspects of the Prescott persona that belong to a different era of politics. After all, his very presence in the Cabinet has always been interpreted as a sop to the traditional, trade union and Trotskyite tendencies that bothered to hang around when the Blair broom swept clean. He is a barnstorming, tub-thumping sort of a politico whose image defies spin and whose rhetoric defies New Labour massage. But to me he seems to hark back to the past in another, much less tolerable way. He is, it would appear from what we have discovered in recent days, a man who bullies people. As a reporter, I've had first-hand experience of Prescott the bully. Last year, I followed him to Cannes, to a conference of estate agents and property developers, to follow up a story in this newspaper that the Deputy Prime Minister was booked into the most expensive hotel in that very expensive town. I trailed Mr Prescott until, late in the day, he gave a speech to about 400 people in a large marquee displaying various British development projects. In his comical way, he made a joking reference to the way The Daily Telegraph had reported his accommodation arrangements. "And I bet," he thundered from his dais, "there is no one from the Telegraph brave enough to show themselves here." His predatory eyes swept the audience. I hope no one would ever accuse me of being a coward. I raised my arm. Americans have a phrase for a politician who takes advantage of a set-piece occasion to push a personal agenda. They call it "using a bully-pulpit". That was precisely what Mr Prescott did to me. For about three minutes, I endured a tirade against me, my newspaper and my profession. Fair enough. We had made an accusation and here was his response. I regarded it as part of the rough-and-tumble of relations between the media and politicians. But the point is that it was not a fair exchange. I had no opportunity to defend myself, because Mr Prescott went straight into a speech about the 2012 Olympic bid. Afterwards, about a dozen people came up and commiserated with me, and several used the word "bully" to describe the guest speaker. A parliamentary committee report two months ago declared that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was "rife with bullying". It was said to be a culture that came from the top. I could easily believe it. The reports that have been drip-dripping on to Mr Prescott's head back up the message. His affairs are not with equals; they are with subordinates. He never tries to put his hand up the skirt of a female political colleague, but always a junior, always someone beholden to his goodwill. Tricia McDaid, a former journalist, recounts how he pulled the top of her dress away from her chest and peered down it. Would he have dared do that to Patricia Hewitt or Margaret Beckett? Or Cherie Blair? Of course he wouldn't. He did it only because he knew he could get away with it, and the woman in question was unlikely to hit back. We all know this kind of behaviour used to be rife among MPs. Many of them seemed to think that because they had a licence from their spouses and their families to spend so much time away from home, they had a licence to play away from home too. Some of them still think like that. Perhaps it is just in the nature of the political beast. My wife (also a journalist) had a similar sort of experience to Mrs McDaid with an MP 20 years ago. When she mentioned it to a colleague, she was told it "was just the way he is". At dinner the other night, an old friend suddenly told us that she, too, had been on the receiving end of unwelcome and aggressive attention from an MP many years ago when she was a young secretary. The point is that many women prefer not to go public with such grubby business. They are philosophical about the nature of men and just move on. So would it be unfair to suggest that for each woman who has accepted Mr Prescott's boorish advances, there must be several who said no to the scattergun approach? And would it be illogical to imagine that they were all in positions of inferiority to Mr Prescott? Watch this space. There might be those who hanker for a return to some of the simpler and more courteous ways of the past, of less functional dealings between man and woman. But surely nobody would want to revive a time when female secretaries were intimidated into either accepting or, at best, remaining silent about the unwanted advances of their overbearing bosses? Of course, there are jobs in government that require a no-nonsense character. Politics is not for the fey. Maybe the Home Office would be better run if those people who were supposed to chase up the deportation of convicted foreign nationals had been bullied a bit more. If governors are efficient, competent and hard, they become admired. If they are slipshod, random and hard, they become bullies. Leaked memos in January showed that even members of Mr Prescott's department thought it was a "pantomime" operation, lacking clear leadership. The seamy stories of the past few days show that, in an era when most men are left wondering whether or not it is a faux pas to hold a door or a lift open for female colleagues, Mr Prescott, with his predatory hands and his uncontrollable appetites, is a dinosaur. We all suspected it, but when he was merely hitting egg-throwing hecklers like a nightclub bouncer, or addressing crowds in the language of an I'm All Right Jack shop steward, it seemed harmless. Now, though, as evidence of his contempt for women painfully leaches out on to newspaper pages, Mr Prescott is bullying us. I hope it will be for the last time. Ben Fenton: 02/05/2006
John Prescott has threatened to complain about newspaper coverage of his affair to a man he called a "red-socked fop" less than six months ago. The Deputy Prime Minister, who has said he will contact the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) over attempts to uncover his past, called for the resignation of the same organisation's chairman last year. A row erupted after Sir Christopher Meyer, the former ambassador to Washington who became head of the PCC in 2003, published memoirs in which he described Prescott as "a mastiff with his hackles up" who "never appeared to be sufficiently up on these [foreign policy] issues". Sir Christopher also dismissed Mr Prescott, along with other Cabinet ministers, as a "political pygmy" and said he got 'into a terrible tangle. . . [talking] about war in the "Balklands" and "Kovosa". Mr Prescott and others, including Jack Straw, took considerable exception to DC Confidential, which was serialised in two national newspapers and became the subject of an inquiry by MPs, and wrote to Sir Christopher calling on him to resign. In the letter, sent in November last year, Mr Prescott wrote: "How can I or others criticised in your book come to the PCC in future and expect impartiality when you have made it quite clear you are anything but?" He adds: "As far as your reputation in Washington goes, I later learned that many on Capitol Hill referred to you as the 'red-socked fop' ." In a statement issued on Saturday night, the Deputy Prime Minister accused the Mail on Sunday and others of "intruding" on his acquaintances by offering money in exchange for information about any past affairs, and said he would seek redress from the PCC. Mr Prescott denied accusations at the weekend that he had "dozens of affairs" on top of the admitted liaison with Tracey Temple and was sexually predatory towards "anything in a skirt". Tricia McDaid, now 45, told the Daily Mail that the Deputy Prime Minister had sexually harassed her when she was a party aide in 1993. "He was a boastful, arrogant, nasty pig," she said. "He just jumped on you when he felt like it at a party." A second woman, Sarah Bissett-Scott, now 57, also claimed to have had a two-year affair with Prescott almost 20 years ago. The Deputy Prime Minister's statement said: "It is totally unacceptable for [newspapers] to trawl through a long list of people offering large amounts of money to make allegations without substance." He has previously complained unsuccessfully to the PCC about the Sunday Express, after it reported in September 2004 that the Government's terrorism evacuation plans were in chaos. The claim was not upheld. A spokesman for the PCC said yesterday: "If people [in the PCC] feel there is a conflict of interest they can always step aside, that has happened on many previous occasions." Amy Iggulden: 02/05/2006
John Prescott was resisting a growing clamour last night to resign as the Deputy Prime Minister after Tony Blair told him that lurid new revelations about his private life did not mean that he had to quit the Cabinet. His determination to fight on was bolstered by a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister in which they discussed his ability to weather the crisis. Mr Blair told him that Sunday newspaper revelations about his affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple, were not serious enough to require his resignation. But a Cabinet colleague suggested that respect for the Deputy Prime Minister was falling away in the party and the country. Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, said: "In politics you have to be able to maintain sufficient authority. You have to be able for people to look at you on the television set and say, 'That guy speaks for me; he's got my support.' "A thing like this - and it is not the first time politicians have had affairs - is very sad for him and particularly for his wife and family. He has to sort that out." Miss Temple disclosed in a lengthy interview with the Mail on Sunday how the couple repeatedly had sex in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office while his staff worked outside. She also claimed that on one occasion they met in a hotel room for sex before joining Mr Prescott's wife, Pauline, downstairs for dinner. Mr Prescott, who was said to be distraught, was spending the weekend with his wife, Pauline, at their home in Hull trying to rebuild their marriage. He admitted in a statement that he had had "intimate relations" with Miss Temple and accepted that he had "acted stupidly". But he also accused his former lover of making up much of her account for financial gain and said he was considering taking the matter to the Press Complaints Commission. "Much of her recollections in the Mail on Sunday are simply untrue and are clearly motivated by a desire to maximise financial gain," he said. It is thought that Miss Temple was paid £250,000 for the story. The latest details of the two-year affair, coupled with the continuing storm over freed foreign prisoners that has left Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, fighting for his Cabinet job, further sapped morale in the Labour Party before Thursday's local elections in England. Even Mr Prescott's dwindling band of allies suggested that he might have to agree to leave the Cabinet while remaining as deputy leader of the party if the pressure continued or if more damaging allegations came to light. As a series of opinion polls suggested that Labour's problems would dent its support on Thursday, backbenchers said they would push for Mr Blair to announce the date of his departure from No 10 if the party lost more than 200 seats. Downing Street denied reports that Mr Blair was distancing himself from Mr Prescott and Mr Clarke. A senior official said: "The Prime Minister is still giving them his full support." But opposition politicians stepped up the pressure on Mr Prescott, saying that he had brought the whole process of government into disrepute. Lord Heseltine, a former Conservative deputy prime minister, told Sky News: "It is legitimate to say that a private affair is private but we are not talking about the affair; we are talking about the behaviour of the Deputy Prime Minister. "You simply cannot have a senior member of a government bringing that government into ridicule and contempt by the way in which that person behaves. That is what has happened." Mr Prescott also faces a possible inquiry by the committee on standards in public life after its chairman, Sir Alistair Graham, said it was possible that he had broken the ministerial code. Sir Alistair said it was primarily a matter for Mr Blair but added: "Having sexual relations on Civil Service premises in working hours would seem to me, prima facie, to raise an issue about conduct." Home Office sources said Mr Blair had also given strong personal backing to Mr Clarke. A huge operation to arrest 79 of the most serious offenders is continuing but how successful it is has been remains unclear. Mr Clarke said on Friday that deportation action had started in 63 cases and that six people were in custody pending deportation. A Home Office spokesman would say only that since Friday "more" offenders had been detained. Asked why figures were not being issued, she said: "The Home Secretary gave some figures on Friday and he said he would give an update next week." Mr Clarke has faced concerted calls to resign after revealing that at least five of the 1,023 let out without being deported had re-offended. Toby Helm: 01/05/2006
See also Is Prescott f****d? John Prescott Max Clifford Ethos of corruption Political corruption: sleaze Crime Pays Reforming the Lords Lord Levy - schmoozing Labour into trouble Arthur Maundy Gregory Berlusconi & Blair Bankrolling New Labour David Mills |
||
| meditations |
top |
|