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Bumbler Presscott at it again
28/11/2000 13:24 - (SA)
London - Britain's Deputy Prime Minister
John Prescott, centre of a storm about the failed global
warming conference, is renowned for mangling the English
language and putting his foot in his diplomatic mouth.
So few in Britain were particularly surprised to hear about
the international ruckus raised by comments the gaffe-prone
Prescott made over the weekend about a French minister also
involved in the environment meeting.
Prescott accused France's Environment Minister Dominique
Voynet of getting "cold feet" over a proposed climate change
deal in talks last week in The Hague. She had been tired, he
remarked, and could not understand the complex issues.
This from a man who famously drove his hairdresser wife 250m
to a Labour party conference to save her hair being
blown about in the wind.
The incident, and his two luxury ministerial Jaguar cars
which have earned Prescott the nickname "Two Jags", has
triggered criticism that the "old school" Labour party member
with a socialist image has acquired a taste for the good life.
Prescott was born on 31 May 1938, in the front bedroom of
a seaside bungalow in north Wales. He was raised in south
Yorkshire and Merseyside. His father was a railway signalman,
his mother was a maid.
But "Prezza," a Labour party member from the old school who
has been roundly chided by the British media in the past for
mispronounced names and mangled syntax, received some plaudits
for his latest performance.
"This stubborn Frenchwoman wrecked bid to save our planet,"
declared the Sun tabloid next to a picture of Voynet.
?hat? with the heads??/b>
This was much kinder than the reception Prescott, a former seaman who left school at 15, got the last time he opened his mouth on the international stage.
Visiting China last month, he attempted to improve
bilateral relations by promoting British art, and attended a
Henry Moore exhibition with China's deputy culture minister.
But Prescott ran his hands over the sculptures and made
comments including "He didn't like hands, did he?" and "What's
with the heads?" - prompting a slew of stories questioning his
credentials as an art critic.
During the 1999 Kosovo crisis, Prescott made an emergency
statement to parliament and had difficulty pronouncing former
Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic's name.
Every August, while Blair is away on holiday and Prescott
is in charge, the British press goes on gaffe-watch.
This year he did not disappoint, overstating one member of
parliament's majority tenfold and getting the weekly rise in
the state pension wrong, saying 78 pence instead of 75.
Prescott rose from humble beginnings
Prescott reached the top of politics after leaving school
to become a steward on luxury sea liners. He attended Oxford's
Ruskin College, which offers courses for mature students.
His verbal mishaps often seem to increase the sympathy he
gets from ordinary voters, many of whom can't pronounce
Milosevic either.
And his old-style exhortations at party conferences are
just the tonic for some party rank-and-file who chafe at the
respectable "trendiness" of New Labour. They loved it this year
when he took on fox hunters and their "contorted faces".
- Reuters
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