John Prescott

The Right Honourable The Lord Prescott
Official portrait, c. 1997
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg[a]
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 21 July 1994 – 24 June 2007
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett
Succeeded by	Harriet Harman
First Secretary of State
In office 8 June 2001 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine[b]
Succeeded by	The Lord Mandelson[c]
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
In office 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	John Gummer (Environment) George Young (Transport)
Succeeded by	Margaret Beckett (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Stephen Byers (Transport, Local Government and the Regions)
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office 8 July 2010 – 9 July 2024 Life peerage
Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull East
In office 18 June 1970 – 12 April 2010
Preceded by	Harry Pursey
Succeeded by	Karl Turner
Shadow cabinet posts Shadow Secretary of State for Employment In office 21 October 1993 – 21 July 1994 Leader John Smith Margaret Beckett (interim) Preceded by Frank Dobson Succeeded by Harriet Harman In office 26 October 1984 – 13 July 1987 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by John Smith Succeeded by Michael Meacher Shadow Secretary of State for Transport In office 23 November 1988 – 21 October 1993 Leader Neil Kinnock John Smith Preceded by Robert Hughes Succeeded by Frank Dobson In office 31 October 1983 – 26 October 1984 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by Albert Booth Succeeded by Gwyneth Dunwoody Shadow Secretary of State for Energy In office 13 July 1987 – 23 November 1988 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by Stan Orme Succeeded by Tony Blair
Personal details
Born	John Leslie Prescott (1938-05-31)31 May 1938 Prestatyn, Wales
Died	20 November 2024(2024-11-20) (aged 86)
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Pauline Tilston ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	2
Education	Ruskin College
Alma mater	University of Hull
Signature
John Prescott's voice Prescott briefs the European Parliament on the results of the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change Recorded 17 February 1998

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John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (31 May 1938 – 20 November 2024) was a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. He was often seen as the political link to the working class in a Labour Party increasingly led by modernising, middle-class professionals such as Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson (although Prescott described himself as "pretty middle class"),^[1] and developed a reputation as a key conciliator in the often fractious relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown.

Born in Prestatyn, Wales, in his youth Prescott failed the eleven-plus entrance exam for grammar school and worked as a ship's steward and trade union activist. He went on to graduate from Ruskin College and the University of Hull. In the 1994 Labour Party leadership election, he stood for both the leadership and deputy leadership, winning election to the latter office. He was appointed deputy prime minister after Labour's victory in the 1997 election, with an expanded brief as Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions until 2001, then subsequently as First Secretary of State until 2007. In June 2007, he resigned as deputy prime minister, coinciding with Blair's resignation as prime minister. Following an election within the Labour Party, he was replaced as deputy leader by Harriet Harman.

After retiring as a member of Parliament at the 2010 general election, Prescott was made a life peer and sat in the House of Lords until 2024. He stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the 2012 election to be the first police and crime commissioner for Humberside Police. Prescott resigned from the Privy Council in 2013 in protest against delays to the introduction of press regulation, of which he had become a proponent. In February 2015, he briefly returned to politics as an adviser to Labour leader Ed Miliband.

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