Lord Prescott: 'Where is the government?'

Senior government figures' holiday clashes are "unbelievable", says Labour peer Lord Prescott.

The former Deputy Prime Minister, who regularly stood in for the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, was reacting to a Daily Mirror headline.

The newspaper described David Cameron, Chancellor George Osborne and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as going "AWOL" on foreign holidays as share prices fell due to concerns over the global economy.

Speaking to Mariella Frostrup on The Andrew Marr Show, Lord Prescott recalled that during Blair's August breaks, in Parliament's summer recess, he found himself dealing with major incidents, such as the Omagh bombing and the 9/11 terror attacks.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt later dismissed the criticism, saying "the Prime Minister is always in charge, wherever he might be."

He went on to explain that Mr Cameron "is in constant contact; so is the Foreign Secretary. That's the way the world works nowadays."

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