Tributes paid to Labour 'titan' and former deputy PM John Prescott

Politicians of all stripes lined up yesterday to pay tribute to John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister and stalwart of the New Labour movement, who died aged 86.

- Eleni Courea

Prescott, who had Alzheimer's, died peacefully in a care home, according to a statement issued by his family. He served as deputy prime minister for more than a decade under Tony Blair and played a pivotal role in his government.

Blair said Prescott had been one "of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics, one of the most committed and loyal, and definitely the most unusual... There were no rules he really abided by."

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary and former Labour leader, said Prescott was a "titan of the labour movement".

During his time in office, Prescott was seen as a custodian of traditional Labour values in the face of a modernising leadership. He acted as a mediator in the often tumultuous relationship between Blair and his chancellor, Gordon Brown, which led to him being described as their "marriage counsellor".

The son of a railway signalman who left school at 15 to work as a trainee chef and then as a steward on the Cunard Line, Prescott is held up to this day as someone who rose from humble beginnings to reach the top of British politics.

Between 1997 and 2001 he served as secretary of state for the environment, transport and the regions and became Britain's lead negotiator for the Kyoto protocol, the first international treaty to set legally binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions.