John Prescott’s Enduring Influence: Angela Rayner Recalls His Call to ‘Use Your Voice’

John Prescott, who passed away at the age of 86, served as a prominent figure within New Labour, yet he harbored an inherent skepticism towards certain aspects of its ideology. He acted as a vital link to Labour’s established working-class base, recognizing and embodying the importance of advocating for the ambitions of those with fewer advantages. His significance to Tony Blair, who secured a decisive landslide victory in 1997 and subsequently won two more elections with Prescott alongside him, lay in his ability to reassure and guide Labour members who were wary of the party’s shift towards the political center. Furthermore, he functioned as a unifying force, adept at maintaining cohesion within the party and among its occasionally conflicting groups. The similarities between that era and the present are evident, as the country once more has a straightforward, working-class northerner serving as deputy prime minister alongside a refined North London lawyer. Angela Rayner’s personal history and political methodology exhibit distinct resemblances to John Prescott’s, a fact Rayner herself has openly recognized. In 2022, when outlining her intentions for the role of deputy prime minister, she stated to LBC: “I’m going to be John Prescott in a skirt, I just say it how I see it.” She further commented: “Me and John are good mates, we see each other quite frequently, and I definitely look better in a skirt.” Following the announcement of his death, Rayner informed broadcasters that he had provided “a huge support to me ever since I came into politics,” advising her to “be authentically yourself and keep thinking about the people you’re there to represent.” She concluded: “That’s what he always said to me, ‘you’ve got a voice kid, use it'”. Both individuals departed school with limited qualifications and advanced through the trade union movement before entering the political arena. Moreover, both possessed the capacity to express the genuine sentiments of Labour’s core supporters, employing language and a style that those supporters themselves would frequently use. Prescott occasionally employed unconventional methods to engage voters, famously including an incident where he punched one. Similarly, in the 2020s, as the contemporary Labour Party aimed to revitalize its popularity by attracting recent Conservative voters, Rayner referred to some Tory ministers as “a bunch of scum” – comments for which she subsequently apologized. The common criticism that all politicians appear and sound alike could never be directed at either Prescott or Rayner. Social class serves as a fundamental lens through which to examine Prescott’s career, political views, and personal life. Despite discussions portraying him as the genuine working-class essence within the refined, predominantly middle-class New Labour, his perception of his own class – which he termed “bottom class” – and that of others significantly shaped his self-image and his view of those around him. For those with time today, a recommended listen is the excellent BBC Sounds documentary – Prescott At Your Service – which recounts the experience of a 19-year-old John Prescott working as a waiter on an ocean liner bound for New Zealand, where the future deputy prime minister attended to the recently resigned former prime minister Anthony Eden. Decades afterward, Tony Blair would observe that Prescott’s self-perception consistently influenced his daily engagements within government. Blair stated: “He could smell out condescension, a slight, an air of superiority or a snub at a thousand paces; and at once smelt, he could charge after it with quite shocking abandon.” John Prescott served as the link connecting Labour’s historical foundations with its contemporary form. He also acted as the unifying element between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, whose crucial yet occasionally problematic relationship characterized Labour’s initial decade in power from 1997 to 2010. Furthermore, he demonstrated a route to almost the highest echelons of power for individuals whose origins seldom lead to prominent positions in British politics.