Malu Cursino
Live page editor

Voices from across the political spectrum and beyond have been paying tribute to Britain's longest serving deputy prime minister, Lord John Prescott, who died on Wednesday, aged 86.

We're now wrapping up our live coverage, but before we go, you can read more about Prescott's life as the old-style political bruiser who played a vital role in the New Labour project.

• Our obituary looks at Prescott's life from his early days in Wales to becoming a key Labour figure in the party's comeback in the 1990s
• The BBC's political editor, Chris Mason, looks at how Prescott blazed a trail to the current deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, acting as a bridgehead to Labour's traditional working class roots and championing the less well off
• Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair led tributes to his deputy from 1997 to 2007. In reference to the infamous punch, Blair said there were "no rules that he really abided by"
• Newscast remembers Prescott's legacy in their latest episode on BBC Sounds, where Lord Mandelson paid tribute to the former deputy prime minister

Image source, Getty Images

Former Deputy Prime Minister Lord John Prescott has died, aged 86. His family said he passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones and to the sound of jazz music at his care home, where he had been living with Alzheimer's.

Known as the figurehead of New Labour, current and former prime ministers have led tributes for Prescott. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described him as a "true giant" of the Labour movement and someone who "changed people's lives".

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair says there was "no-one quite like him in British politics", while former PM Gordon Brown described his friend as a "titan of the Labour movement".

Tributes came in from across the political divide, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch calling him a "true patriot" and former leader Lord William Hague saying he could "hardly ever get the better" of Prescott.

In addition to his political legacy, Prescott has also been remembered for his good humour, strong values and for punching a man who threw an egg at him during the general election campaign in 2001.

Among the figures joining in to pay tribute to John Prescott is Bill Hare, the CEO of global science policy think tank Climate Analytics, and the leader of the Greenpeace delegation at the Kyoto Climate Change Conference in 1997.

Speaking to the BBC's Malcolm Senior at the COP29 Climate Conference in Baku, Hare says Prescott was a "very important figure in climate negotiations" during the lead up to, and at the conference.

"I saw him as one of the towering figures of that period. A minister who believed in the need to act on the problem, and saw the threats to working people from climate change if it wasn't addressed," he adds.

Hare notes that Prescott "helped to bring the Americans and Russians into an agreement to make a real emission reduction," as well as bringing in "some of the more difficult countries like Australia".

Asked how he thinks Prescott would react to the current climate negotiations, Hare says he could "imagine he'd be deeply frustrated" and would likely be "hammering at the plenaries for the presidents and others to step up and do the right thing".

Image source, Getty Images

More Cabinet members have been joining in to pay tribute to former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott following his death at 86. Here are some of the latest messages they have shared on X:

• Chancellor Rachel Reeves describes John Prescott as "an icon of the Labour movement," saying he "helped deliver a transformational government," and will be "deeply missed"
• Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says Prescott was "fierce and warm hearted," and that "there was no one like him" while describing him as a "campaigning Labour hero and remarkable minister"
• Health Secretary Wes Streeting says Prescott "gave the Labour Party the winning spirit we needed and he never stopped fighting for what he believed in", adding: "I will miss our conversations in the tea room - even (especially) being told off"
• Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood echoed the sentiment, saying Prescott "served our party and our nation with exceptional dedication".

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

I'll be remembering some of John Prescott's more mischievous antics - including the inside story of that punch - in my newsletter, Off Air with Laura K, later.

I'm told officials were already locked in a meeting chaired by Gordon Brown, when a staffer came into the room and whispered to the General Secretary, Margaret McDonagh: "John has just punched somebody, and Sky have got it."

McDonagh asked the official to repeat it, then said: “I think we’d better stop the meeting, there is something we need to talk about”. One of those in the room tells me: “We had been waiting for the moment when it was all going to fall apart – we thought, oh my god, is this it?”

In Party HQ, there were “lots of young men in blue shirts standing around watching the TV screens”, as the full magnitude of what had happened emerged. A plan was hatched to work out how bad the damage was before a decision was made to back him or sack him.

Party directors around the country were instructed to call 50 members of the public each, my source recalls. But by late that night it was clear - the public was, in the main, pretty sympathetic.

The public saved Prescott’s job, before the press conference the next day when Blair used the now famous phrase to defend his deputy, “John is John”.

“We all breathed a huge sigh of relief”, the insider says.

• For more political insight and insider stories, you can sign up here.

Image source, Getty Images

Former British world heavyweight champion Frank Bruno has paid tribute to John Prescott, recalling a conversation he had the Labour figure after his infamous punching incident in 2001.

"We met a few times," Bruno writes on X, describing Prescott as a "funny man away from mics, cameras and the press".

The boxer says he spoke to Prescott shortly after he punched a man who threw an egg at him during an election campaign..

Bruno recalls the chat: "I said to John, 'I had better not get to close too you, you might punch me'- he said, 'Frank you had better come and be my bodyguard'."

This morning Tony Blair spoke to BBC Radio 4's Today programme about his relationship with former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

In a poignant clip, the former PM recounts how his government responded to Prescott punching a man for throwing an egg at him while campaigning ahead of the 2001 general election.

He recalls the incident in the video below:

Image source, Getty Images

A little earlier we heard from Nick Jones, who's written extensively about New Labour, and says "there's no doubt about it that John Prescott was able to help Tony Blair deliver the transformation from old Labour to New Labour".

While Prescott was a trade unionist "through and through", he played a "pivotal role" in helping Labour "put some distance between itself and the trade union movement", Jones tells the BBC.

By helping the party "loosen[s] its links" with the trade unions, Prescott "cemented" himself as a "key figure in the Labour hierarchy of the last 30, 40 years", the ex-BBC correspondent adds.

How John Prescott blazed a trail for Angela Raynerpublished at 14:13 Greenwich Mean Time 21 November

14:13 GMT 21 November

Chris Mason
Political editor

Image source, Getty Images

John Prescott, who has died aged 86, was a figurehead of New Labour, who was also instinctively sceptical of some of its instincts.

He was a bridgehead to Labour's traditional working class roots who saw the value in, and indeed personified, championing the aspirations of the less well off.

His value to Tony Blair, who swept to a landslide victory in 1997 and went on to win two further elections with Prescott at his side, was that he could reassure and lead those within Labour sceptical of its movement towards the centre.

He was also a binding agent, skilled at holding the party and its sometimes warring factions together.

It is not hard to see the parallels between then and now, when we once again have a plain-speaking working class northerner as deputy prime minister to a polished North London lawyer.

Angela Rayner's backstory - and approach to politics - have clear parallels with John Prescott, something Rayner herself has openly acknowledged.

Describing how she planned to do the job of deputy PM in 2022, she told LBC, external: "I'm going to be John Prescott in a skirt, I just say it how I see it."

Both Rayner and Prescott left school with few qualifications and worked their way up through the union movement, before entering politics.

And both were able to articulate the authentic instincts of Labour's base of supporters, in a language, and style, they themselves would often use.

• Read the BBC's Chris Mason's full analysis.

Image source, Reuters

We’ve just heard from the Conservative Party's former leader, Lord William Hague, who reflects on the exchanges he had with John Prescott in the Commons.

In an interview with the BBC's World at One programme, Lord Hague says Prescott was often "harder to question than Tony Blair".

"I could often get the better of Tony Blair, but could hardly ever get the better of John Prescott," he says, adding that people are often surprised about that.

"He knew how to use humour and he would really answer back with a direct counterattack. He was very hard to pin down and it was certainly difficult to come out better than him."

Angela Rayner tells the BBC John Prescott was "very supportive" towards her and they shared many of the same values.

The deputy prime minister says both her and her predecessor wanted to show that "working class people are intelligent and can drive and achieve things as well".

"For us it was about proving our worth and being champions of the people we represent.

"That’s what we spoke about quite often - how can we deliver that change and not to be silenced and put off."

Image source, Getty Images

We’re now hearing from Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, on the BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, as she pays tribute once again to her predecessor John Prescott.

Rayner says Prescott was a politician who stood out and "a figure you could really relate to".

"He was a voice that championed the regeneration of our towns and cities that we desperately needed."

Image source, Getty Images

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, praised Prescott's "huge impact on British politics, and on global climate action", noting his role in the Kyoto Protocol, the first climate change agreement signed in 1997.

Meanwhile in Edinburgh, the SNP leader, John Swinney says he was a "unique man" who "devoted his political life to the Labour Party and to social justice".

As we reported a little earlier, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described Prescott as a "titan of British politics in the 1990s," adding that he was one of the UK's "greatest examples of social mobility".

And Lib Dem leader Ed Davey called Prescott a "towering figure in British politics".

Image source, AFP

Also joining the wave of tributes is former Prime Minister Sir John Major, who highlights the character and the authenticity of Lord Prescott in his homage to the ex-deputy prime minister.

Major says Prescott views "came from personal experience - not political expediency".

The former Conservative leader praises Prescott's commitment to the causes that first motivated him into politics, while remaining a passionate advocate for all he believed in.

"I much admired him as a man who never betrayed his core instincts," Major says in a statement. "He was, in essence, a deep down genuine politician. The public saw that – and respected him for it."

Image source, UK Parliament

Earlier today, MPs on both sides of the House of Commons came together to remember John Prescott.

Fittingly, their remarks came during a debate on transport - a department Prescott headed up from 1997 to 2001.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle described Prescott as a "fearless, loyal, active unionist and dedicated parliamentarian" and confirmed there will be an opportunity to make fuller tributes next week.

Adding to his original tribute, Keir Starmer called Prescott a "true giant" of both the Labour movement and the House of Commons.

"As one of the key architects of a Labour government, John achieved that rare thing, he changed people's lives."

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh called Prescott an "inspiration to working class boys and girls across our country", with shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew adding that Prescott was "a man not afraid to come out swinging for what he believed in."

The latest tribute to John Prescott comes from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who gave him his first shadow cabinet post in 1983.

He says Prescott was an "essential figure" in British politics who had an "intriguing mixture of ferocity and charm who attracted affection, respect and, sometimes, outrage."

Kinnock praises Prescott's key policy achievements, referencing his work to combat climate change, his commitment to devolution and his belief in European co-operation.

"Vitally, he was also a very practical MP and minister who continually sought the best way to get things done," Kinnock adds.

As tributes continue to pour in for Lord Prescott, we'll have a quick look at his political career in pictures:

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, we heard from another member of the public who shared with Radio 5 Live host Nicky Campbell how John Prescott's impact on their lives.

Daniel in Billingshurst says Prescott gave him the opportunity to shadow him for a week when he was 17, saying he "set me up for life".

"Really generous with his time. He even let me meet PM Tony Blair," Daniel says.

"One of my favourite memories was him making me promise to him that I’d never become a journalist, as he was flicking through a newspaper reading a story about himself which he thought wasn’t very flattering. As a young 17 year old I felt compelled to nod along."

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson says people "related" to John Prescott because he was very direct - both with his words and his actions.

Johnson adds the incident in which Prescott punched a man for hitting him with an egg showed the former deputy prime minister '"wasn't going to turn the other cheek. That was John, that was his background".

You can hear more about Johnson's memories of Prescott in the clip below:

Image source, Getty Images

Throughout the morning, Radio 5 Live host Nicky Campbell has been hearing from members of the public about their memories of John Prescott.

Jenny in Peterborough says Prescott was "the embodiment of all the values that grabbed my attention about Labour", adding: "He cared about the ordinary bloke, the ordinary man and woman, and was passionate about taking care of them."

Kevin, calling in from Preston, says Prescott was "somebody who made sure the deep rooted Labour values were pushed through during the New Labour administration", saying he paved the way for the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which "brought us the much awaited freedom to roam over open country".