John Prescott’s guilty secret? He was New Labour’s key moderniser

Despite his fearsome reputation as a fire-breathing lefty, the former deputy prime minister was instrumental in reforming the party, says John Rentoul

It has often been said that Tony Blair used John Prescott – with his working-class, trade-union background and traditional socialist beliefs – as a human shield, to give Blair cover for his middle-class, crypto-Tory sellout of Labour values. It is not true.

On every issue, Prescott agreed with the New Labour line. In some cases, he had come to Blairite conclusions before Blair. He supported the national minimum wage at a time when many trade unions insisted that it was their role to negotiate better conditions for the low-paid.

I knew him when he had a reputation as a fire-breathing lefty in Neil Kinnock’s shadow cabinet. I interviewed him for BBC TV in 1991 about Labour’s support for the Gulf war, to retrieve Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion. He was privately opposed to it, but publicly stuck to party policy. When the camera operator stopped to change the battery, he shouted at me for asking about “tittle-tattle”, before resuming the interview in a calm and smiling manner.

We got on most of the time, because he was always thoughtful. He supported John Smith, Blair’s predecessor, in bringing in “one member, one vote”, to cut the power of the trade union leaders.

I was there when Prescott, arms waving like a windmill, exhorted delegates at the Labour conference in Brighton in 1993 to back “this man, our leader” who had put his “head on the block” to defend the link with the trade unions by reforming it.

I was there when he supported Blair in rewriting Clause IV of Labour’s constitution, removing the objective of the “common ownership” of everything.

The way Prescott handled Clause IV told us a lot about him. He pretended to be reluctant because he knew the strength of the party’s sentimental attachment to the old wording, but he agreed with Blair that the party needed to be explicit with swing voters about what it believed.

But Prescott understood, more than Blair, the significance of that moment in Labour history. At the final drafting session of the new clause, Blair’s mind moved on to the next thing the moment the words were agreed upon and taken by David Miliband to be typed up. Prescott surveyed the abandoned table, with drafts and re-drafts spread all over it, and swept them all into his bag to keep for posterity. I hope they are all still there in his papers.

Blair had seen from early on that some of Prescott’s aggression came from insecurity – as Prescott admitted in honest and reflective interviews after government – and that he would repay respect with loyalty

He was a moderniser in government, too. One of his first roles in the over-large department for the environment, transport and the regions was to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol – the first global agreement to reduce climate change.

He was ahead of the pack of “Blairite” ministers in his pragmatism and his willingness to work with the private sector. Mostly forgotten now, he sorted out the mess left by the Conservatives on the Channel Tunnel rail link, restructuring the private financing deal so that it was praised by the National Audit Office as “more robust”.

All the while, he maintained the front of a blunt-spoken Labour traditionalist, resentful of Peter Mandelson for promoting “the beautiful people”, and in government complaining about Blairite special advisers whom he called “teenyboppers”, even though he had his own spads who were modernisers, too.

Blair had seen from early on that some of Prescott’s aggression came from insecurity – as Prescott admitted in honest and reflective interviews after government – and that he would repay respect with loyalty. They formed a superficially unlikely partnership that worked well, with Prescott defending Blair until the end.

Despite Prescott’s opposition to the first Gulf war, he stuck by Blair throughout the 2003 Iraq war and beyond.

In those later years, he acted as a broker between Blair and Gordon Brown. On one occasion, Prescott told Blair that he thought Blair had reneged on a deal to hand over to Brown, but that he supported Blair anyway.

Hence Blair’s tribute today: “I relied on him many times: when in difficulty, under attack; and less well known when I needed someone whose gut instinct I trusted better than my own.” From someone whose gut instinct was among the best, that is generous praise.

Indeed, Blair goes as far as to say: “It is no exaggeration to say the Labour Party could never have won three consecutive full terms without John.” He was a fitfully effective minister, but in history, which Prescott cared about, his place is guaranteed because he personally stood as a reminder that New Labour was not some alien, right-wing project foisted on a working-class party.

New Labour delivered the minimum wage and decent public services for the working class, while recognising the aspiration of working-class people such as Prescott to enjoy a middle-class standard of living. Traditional values in a modern setting, as he put it.