Cop26: John Prescott becomes 'Zero Jags' in climate bid
Former deputy prime minister - famed for once making a 250 yard journey by limousine - says he has sold his famous cars
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John Prescott says he has sold his (in)famous cars in a bid to reduce his carbon footprint and help fight the climate crisis.
The former deputy prime minister – who once had a limousine ferry him 250 yards from a hotel to a conference venue – suggested his new nickname could be “Zero Jags”.
“I’ve made my own small contribution to cutting carbon emissions,” he wrote in a column for The Times. “I’ve sold my Jaguar. I am now Zero Jags.”
The 83-year-old – who led EU negotiations on the Kyoto protocol in 1997 – made the revelation ahead of a visit to Cop26 in Glasgow this week.
While there, he says he will call for emissions to be reduced by 7.6 per cent every year up to 2030 to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5C.
“I back the UN’s call to world leaders to come back to Cop every year until we have the commitments that will save the planet,” Lord Prescott wrote. “Climate change won’t wait another five years, so leaders must be sat on and held to account every year. Pledges are important but they must set out how they will deliver.”
He will not, presumably, mention how he once claimed to be catching a train back home to Hull after an official event in Scarborough – only to hop off at the first stop and drive his jag the rest of the way.
The one-time trade unionist was Hull East's Labour MP for 40 years before standing down and being made a lord in 2010.
He served as deputy prime minister under Tony Blair between 1997 and 2007, and announced his resignation within half an hour of Mr Blair announcing his own.
He was seen by many as one of New Labour’s key components, acting as a go-between in the often stormy relationship between Mr Blair and chancellor Gordon Brown.
It is not clear how many other cars he has.
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