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Labour pays tribute to Prescott
Deputy prime minister John Prescott at the opening of the Bankside Pier in Southwark, south London, May 18, 1998

LEFT and right in Labour briefly united today to pay tribute to the party’s former deputy leader John Prescott, who has died aged 86.

Prescott, a former activist in the seafarers’ union, served as deputy prime minister under Tony Blair from 1997 until the latter’s resignation in 2007. 

Mr Blair described him as “one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics. 

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