John Prescott, a pork pie and me – my run-in with Labour’s deputy leader

Published

7 months ago

November 22, 2024

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Brandishing a pork pie on a silver tray, John Prescott stood on the stage during his 1995 Labour conference speech and bellowed: “Lies, lies! Porky pies!”

It was the defining moment of my stormy 40-year relationship with the combustible, irascible former Cunard steward who became Britain’s longest-serving deputy prime minister.

The object of his anger was my front page splash in that day’s Daily Express under the headline: “Prescott fury at new snub. Blair deputy is passed over for radio interview.”

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The story began: “John Prescott was ‘spitting blood’ last night at another humiliating snub by Tony Blair and his inner circle.

“The Labour deputy was said to be furious that Mr Blair’s friend Peter Mandelson will appear in a major end-of-conference BBC interview instead of him.”

The previous evening, with two Daily Express colleagues I’d dined at Brighton’s English’s seafood restaurant with Blair ally Jack Straw, then shadow home secretary.

I’d only filed about half a dozen paragraphs, but the office called and demanded more copy, as they wanted to splash the story. So I phoned another 10 paragraphs from English’s – back when journalists spoke their articles down the phone to a copytaker.

Mr Straw came to me the next day and said people who’d seen us dining thought he was the source. He wasn’t, I reassured him! It was a Labour MP who was a close ally of Mr Prescott.

In his conference speech, Mr Prescott attempted to summon me to the stage to be presented with the pork pie. I resisted the temptation. But he wasn’t finished.

After his speech, with TV crews from Sky News and Newsnight in tow, he came into the press room to remonstrate with me. And he did indeed present me with the pork pie.

In the next day’s Daily Express, under the headline “That’s pie in the sky, John”, I wrote: “First let me declare an interest. I am a fan of Labour deputy leader John Prescott.

“Over the years, he has shouted at me, sworn at me and once poked me in the chest in the committee corridor of the Commons.”

Right up to his sad death, I remained a fan. And the last time we met, in the House of Lords when his health was deteriorating, he said to me: “You always tell it like it is, Jon.”

Somewhat startled, I replied: “You didn’t always say that, John!” But clearly the old warhorse had mellowed in old age and was prepared to forgive if not forget.

Before the 1995 spat, when Mr Prescott was a member of Neil Kinnock’s shadow cabinet, I’d often ring him for a quote for the newspapers I worked for before the Daily Express.

Often driving one of his legendary “two Jags”, he’d begin by berating me and complaining about “your f***ing paper” before eventually saying: “What do you want to know.”

When Bryan Gould resigned from John Smith’s shadow cabinet in 1992 over a left-right policy clash, I asked Mr Prescott if he too was planning to resign.

“Don’t be daft!” he replied bluntly. He may have been outspoken and combative. But he was also a pragmatist, as he was to prove in his 10 years as deputy prime minister.

Our last clash before he mellowed was when he stood unsuccessfully to become police and crime commissioner for Humberside in 2012, which I covered for Sky News.

After his defeat, I asked him – not unreasonably, I thought – if he was going to retire now. “Retire? Retire!” he shouted at me. But he later did, when his health began to fail.

I was heartened when he spoke to me in friendly terms the last time we met. Unlike some senior politicians, he wasn’t one to bear grudges, after all.

And what became of the pork pie? I took it back to the Express office and presented it to a rather bemused Sir Nicholas Lloyd, the editor. We didn’t eat it, though.

The pie, after all, had legendary status. Like John Prescott did.

We’ll never see his like again.

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‘Stability in Middle East is priority,’ says Starmer – as world reacts to strikes

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2025

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'Stability in Middle East is priority,' says Starmer - as world reacts to strikes

Sir Keir Starmer has said stability in the Middle East is “a priority” following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as the world reacted to the attack.

The prime minister also called on Iran to “return to the negotiating table” to “reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis”.

The US struck three sites in Iran early on Sunday morning, with Donald Trump boasting the country’s key nuclear sites were “completely and fully obliterated” in an address to the nation from the White House. He warned there could be further strikes if Iran retaliates.

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In a statement, Sir Keir said: “Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat.

“The situation in the Middle East remains volatile and stability in the region is a priority. We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”

He said the UK was not involved in the attack but was informed about them in advance.

Sir Keir later told reporters there was a “risk of escalation” and added: “That’s a risk to the region. It’s a risk beyond the region, and that’s why all our focus has been on de-escalating, getting people back around to negotiate what is a very real threat in relation to the nuclear programme.”

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Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Mr Trump for the strikes, saying: “Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.

“History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

UN secretary-general ‘gravely alarmed’ by US attack

But UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed by the use of force” by the US against Iran.

“This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security. There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.”

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged all sides to step back and return to the negotiating table. “Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon,” she said in a post on X.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she said, adding that EU foreign ministers will discuss the situation tomorrow.

How the world reacted to the strikes

World leaders reacted to the strikes with calls for diplomacy and de-escalation, with some fearing they could push the region towards a wider conflict.

Russia’s former president and current deputy chair of its security council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on the Telegram messaging app: “Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the US.”

China strongly condemned the attack, with its foreign ministry saying the move seriously violates the UN charter and worsens tensions in the Middle East. It urged the parties involved to cease attacks as soon as possible and begin negotiations.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Iran to enter immediate talks with the US and Israel to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, a government spokesperson said.

France urged all sides to show restraint, with its foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot saying Paris is “convinced that a lasting resolution to this issue requires a negotiated solution within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said after the attack that his country’s government hopes “a de-escalation can begin and Iran can sit down at the negotiating table”.

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X: “We strongly condemn the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which constitutes a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The aggression seriously violates the UN Charter and international law and plunges humanity into a crisis with irreversible consequences.”

Venezuela’s foreign minister Yvan Gil said his country’s government “condemns US military aggression” and “demands an immediate cessation of hostilities”.

NATO member Turkey said the strikes raised the risk of a regional conflict spreading globally, with the foreign ministry saying the spread of the conflict into a wider global war must not be allowed.

The Iraqi government condemned the strikes, saying they create a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia expressed “deep concern” but stopped short of condemning the attack.

Both Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen – part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance – condemned the strikes, with the Houthis vowing to support Iran in its fight against “the Zionist and American aggression”.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country needs to stay away from any possible regional spillover from the conflict.

Qatar said it “regrets” the escalating tensions and its foreign ministry urged all parties to show restraint and “avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate”.

The United Arab Emirates called for an immediate halt to the escalation to “avoid serious repercussions” in the region, with its foreign ministry warning they could lead the region to “new levels of instability”.

Oman condemned the strikes, with a spokesperson for its foreign ministry warning they threaten “to expand the scope of the conflict and constitute a serious violation of international law and the United Nations charter”.

Maryam Rajavi, the head of Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran, said from Paris: “Now [Supreme Leader] Khamenei must go. The Iranian people welcome the end of the war and seek peace and freedom.

“Khamenei is responsible for an unpatriotic project that, in addition to costing countless lives, has cost the Iranian people at least $2trn (£1.5trn) – and now, it has all gone up in smoke.”