While we wait to hear from Gordon Brown in a few minutes, Alzheimer’s Research UK says it is "incredibly moved" by Lord Prescott's family asking for donations to the research charity in lieu of flowers.

"It’s heartbreaking to hear that former deputy Prime Minister, Lord John Prescott, one of the most prominent political figures of our generation, has died withAlzheimer’s," chief executive Hilary Evans-Newton says.

She adds: "As the UK’s leading dementia research charity, we’re accelerating progress towards a cure, so no one’s life has to end this way."

We'll be hearing from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown shortly on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Brown was Chancellor during Prescott's tenure as deputy prime minister between 1997 and 2007.

• You can watch Brown's interview with the Today programme by pressing Watch live above

Image source, Getty Images

We're hearing now from former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who tells BBC Breakfast a lot of John Prescott's work "was hard slog", and that his achievements went "largely under the radar".

Johnson, a close friend of Prescott, describes the former deputy prime minister as "very intelligent and very dedicated".

And when asked about Prescott punching a man who threw an egg at him in 2001, Johnson says, "in a sense it displays his authenticity".

"John had it in spades and probably didn’t know it. Fortunately, that conflict was filmed and you saw a guy half his age, much bigger than him assaulting him. John wasn’t going to turn the other cheek. That was John, that was his background."

Chris Mason
Political editor

“The completely unique Prescott blend of charm and brutality - made always more effective by the unpredictability of which would be predominant - got you through the decade.”

So wrote Tony Blair in a private letter to John Prescott in the days after leaving Downing Street as Prime Minister in 2007.

Sir Tony later wrote in his memoirs: "He could be maddening, he could be dangerous, he could be absurd, he could be magnificent," never “dull, placid, uneventful…forgettable".

Amid the slick, middle class polish of New Labour, John Prescott personified a blunt grit; proudly working class, proud of his trades union background, proud to bind his party’s past with its present.

From a seafaring waiter as a young man, he was, via the European Parliament and much later the House of Lords, to become the country’s longest serving Deputy Prime Minister.

Concluding his tribute to Prescott, Blair says the best advice he received from Prescott was to remember that "we had two bits of the coalition".

One side was the "progressive middle class", the other was the "aspirational working class", Blair says.

On his late deputy's reputation as a "marriage counsellor" between him and his then-Chancellor Gordon Brown, the former PM says Prescott was "a vital part of keeping the whole show together".

"He got on with both of us because he believed it was in the interest of the Labour Party," adding that Prescott was like a "bridge".

We just heard Tony Blair recapping one of the more memorable moments in Lord Prescott's career, when he punched a man who threw an egg at him on the general election campaign in 2001.

Take a look at the moment below:

After pictures of the incident appeared in press around the world, he was nicknamed “two jabs” by journalists.

Lord Prescott said he had acted in self-defence and police refused to take any further action. Subsequent newspaper polls suggested most people supported his reaction.

Tony Blair recalls some of the "really funny times" with Prescott and remembers the moment in the 2001 general election campaign when Prescott punched a member of the public who had thrown an egg at him.

"This caused a huge fracas obviously, and was an immense media story. We had to give a press conference in the election campaign the next day," he tells the Today programme.

"Some people were saying 'he's deputy prime minister - you can't have a deputy prime minister thumping a voter'.

"And then there were other people saying 'yeah, but he had this egg slammed on his head and he turned round and whacked the guy, and a lot of people think, well, fair enough'.

"We had a long debate about it, and finally at the press conference when I was asked about it, I said 'John is John'... that's as much as you can say.

"There were no rules that he really abided by."

Image source, Getty Images

Continuing with his tribute to Prescott, Blair says he feels "devastated" for the loss of his former deputy prime minister.

Prescott was "innovator, highly intelligent", Blair says, saying that he reached the voters that "I couldn't reach".

The former prime minister says Prescott was an "incredibly direct communicator" and while the pair had their disagreements, he was "loyal" and "committed".

Prescott had a "fantastic gut instinct about politics" and I had a "huge, genuine affection for him", Blair adds.

Speaking on the Today programme, Former Prime Minister Tony Blair pays tribute to John Prescott, saying there was “no-one quite like him in British politics”.

“He had a fantastic gut instinct about politics," he says.

• You can watch Blair's interview with the Today programme now by pressing watch live above.

As reaction pours in to news of John Prescott's death, BBC's Today programme host Nick Robinson shares an anecdote of the former deputy prime minister, who he says "always put a smile on the face of those he was talking to".

"Prescott once stumbled in an interview with me getting confused about what he was trying to say.

"'Oh I made that crap,' he said 'can we go again?' My reply 'We are, in fact, live deputy prime minister'.

"At the end of the interview we both laughed so much it hurt."

We’ll shortly be hearing from former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown on Radio 4’s Today programme.

Both men worked closely with Prescott during their time in government.

Prescott became deputy PM under Blair following Labour’s landslide general election win in 1997, a position he held for 10 years. For the same decade, Brown was Chancellor.

Prescott remained a Labour MP under Brown until the 2010 election when he stood down, but campaigned vociferously for his party leader in the run up to polling day.

We'll be carrying their reactions live on this page shortly, or you can watch live by pressing the play button at the top of the page.

Image source, Getty Images

Former US Vice-President Al Gore, who worked with John Prescott on the Kyoto Protocol - the first global climate change agreement - in 1997, has paid tribute to the former deputy prime minister.

“I’ve never worked with anyone in politics - on my side of the pond or his - quite like John Prescott," Gore says. "He possessed an inherent ability to connect with people about the issues that mattered to them - a talent that others spend years studying and cultivating, but that was second nature to him."

"He fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and was an unwavering champion of climate action for decades to come. I’m forever grateful to John for that commitment to solving the climate crisis and will miss him as a dear friend.”

Prime Minister and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pays tribute to Lord Prescott as a "true giant of the Labour movement".

"So much of John's work set the path for those of us fortunate enough to follow. From leading climate negotiations to fighting regional inequality, his legacy will live well beyond his lifetime," he says.

The prime minister adds that Lord Prescott will be remembered for his "conviction, courage and strength of character".

Image source, Getty Images

We're now getting former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's reaction to the death of his former deputy John Prescott.

"Although we all knew that the end was approaching and was inevitable, I am devastated by John’s passing," Blair says in a statement.

"He was one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics; one of the most committed and loyal; and definitely the most unusual."

The former prime minister praised Prescott for his "extraordinary accomplishments" and his devotion to British politics.

We'll shortly be hearing from Blair live on the Today programme - we'll bring you all the lines here.

Image source, Getty Images

John Prescott remains the UK’s longest-serving deputy prime minister, a post he occupied throughout the entirety of Tony Blair’s tenure from 1997 to 2007.

The then-Labour MP played a major role in securing the 1997 Kyoto agreement on climate change, which bound industrialised countries to overall cuts of about 5% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, compared with 1990 levels. However, the treaty did not require rapidly developing countries China, India and Brazil to reduce their emissions.

Prescott was seen as a power-broker and counsellor, smoothing over the often strained relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown, and also helped ensure a trouble-free transition from one leader to the other.

His stint at the top of government also saw him praised as the man who helped secure changes in the relationship between Labour and the unions, aided by his union roots.

His working class beginning allowed him to appear more relatable to many Labour voters, in contrast to Blair’s independent school and Oxford-educated background.

Image source, PA Media

In a career that stretched back over half a century, Lord Prescott was first elected as MP for Kingston upon Hull East in 1970 and went on to hold the seat for almost 40 years.

Lord Prescott joined the shadow cabinet in 1983 with a responsibility for transport.

Between 1997 and 2007, he was deputy to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and received a peerage in 2010.

His retirement from the Commons, and break from frontline politics, did not last long as five years later he was advising Ed Miliband and, in 2017, supporting Jeremy Corbyn.

Lord Prescott ceased to be a member of the House of Lords in July of this year due to non-attendance, having only spoken once in the chamber since suffering a stroke in 2019. He had not voted since February 2023, according to official records.

Born in Prestatyn, Wales, Lord Prescott left school at 15 and worked as a steward in the Merchant Navy. He then studied at Ruskin College in Oxford, before entering politics.

Image source, Getty Images

The family also looked back on his political achievements in their tribute saying: “John spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment, doing so from his time as a waiter on the cruise liners to becoming Britain’s longest serving deputy prime minister.

“John dearly loved his home of Hull and representing its people in Parliament for 40 years was his greatest honour.”

In a statement announcing his death, Lord Prescott’s wife and two sons said he had been in a care home recently living with Alzheimer’s.

“We are deeply saddened to inform you that our beloved husband, father and grandfather, John Prescott, has passed away peacefully at the age of 86,” they said.

He died surrounded by family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery, they added.

They paid tribute to the doctors and nurses who had looked after him after his stroke in 2019 and the care home staff more recently.

Lord John Prescott, former deputy prime minister to Tony Blair, has died aged 86.

The former trade union activist served as Blair’s deputy for 10 years after Labour’s 1997 election landslide.

In a statement announcing his death, Lord Prescott’s wife and two sons said he had been in a care home recently living with Alzheimer’s.

Stick with us as we bring you more on this breaking story.