Former prime minister Tony Blair has paid a heartfelt tribute to his former deputy prime minister John Prescott in a eulogy at his funeral today.
The service drew more than 300 family members, friends and colleagues to pay their respects to the Labour veteran, who died aged 86 in November.
Speaking at Hull Minister, Blair said: “John was the guardian of the party’s conscience. But it’s important to remember he was also its educator.
“Our relationship would never have worked had we been two peas in different pods. John was loyal. A quality Prime Minister’s value highly.
“But more than that, when the new part of New Labour had to do difficult reforms, John would insist on being part of the debate, not to obstruct, but to understand. He had the most refined and intelligent intuition about what Labour must do to sustain itself in power.
“The Conservative Party exists traditionally, at least, to wield power, and finds nothing inherently unprincipled about it. Like most progressive movements, the Labour Party and power are uncomfortable in each other’s company.
“In its rational moments, which are too often preceded by a prolonged period of opposition, the party knows it needs power to fulfil its purpose but it sort of distrusts power, finds it desirable but dangerous to its self-worth.
“It will advocate change, but be curiously conservative in driving it or accepting the pain, the compromises, the trade offs which are its natural accompaniment.
“This is the contradiction which John was instrumental in resolving, and in doing so, created the conditions by which that government govern more than twice as long as any Labour government before it.
“John had the brain to make an argument and the personality to make it appealing. That personality will be forever memorialized by, of course, the punch.
“The 2001 election is trundling uneventfully along towards the finishing line. Then one afternoon I received a call from Alastair saying John has just thumped a voter. I said, oh hard? Well he laid him out so yes.
“Cue the pandemonium in the media and at the party headquarters, the general view amongst the campaign advisers is that it is not good for the deputy Prime Minister to whack a voter, even if provoked, even a guy with a mullet.
“So I agree, not with enthusiasm to call John and ask him to say sorry. John, I begin and I blather on for a few minutes. John interrupts me. Cut the crap, he said. You want me to apologise, don’t you?
“Well yes, John, thank you, thank you for understanding. The answer’s no, I’m not bloody well apologising. And that’s an end of it.
“Classic. So I watched the film of The Punch again and I’m trying to feel outrage and instead find myself cheering him on. That settled it. At the next morning’s press conference, I decided on a line of which, to this day, I’m inordinately proud.
“The media was on fire and the first question came breathlessly demanding what I had to say about the incident. What I have to say, I said, is John is John. They asked that’s all you’re saying?
“There isn’t anything more to be said, I replied, And indeed there wasn’t.
“We love John because he was John. Unique, irrepressible, irresistible and very human.
“John wouldn’t tolerate a hagiography. He wasn’t a Saint and frankly, we would have loved him less if he had been. He could be obstinate, hot tempered, hypersensitive, but somehow his passion for the cause would extinguish any obstinacy. His generosity of spirit would cool the temper and his awareness of his own fragility soften the effects of any heightened sensitivity.
“His troubles and his epic efforts to overcome them and master them made his humanity real.
“I once said to him, John, I wish you liked yourself as much as I like you. So it’s right that we celebrate his life’s work. He played a huge part in the affairs of government
“But I want to celebrate him also as a man, a good man, a man who started as my political partner and became my personal friend.
“And to Pauline, his life partner, you were his rock and the waves, no matter how fierce, never overcame you. You are an amazing person in your own right and he knew how fortunate he was to have you at his side.
“And to David and Jonathan, he always spoke so proudly of you both and with good reason, not least in these last years as you supported him and cared for him with such love.
“You will miss him, we will miss him. But I hope if John’s looking down on us and not already in deep negotiation with Saint Peter over the accommodation, I hope you will see in this vast gathering today a recognition of that working class boy from a small Welsh town who rose to the highest ranks of the land by merit, by graft, by greatness of courage and character.
“And he will feel deservedly at peace.”
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