Blair and Brown pay tribute to John Prescott
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2024
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this special episode two former Labour prime ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, reflect on the life of the former deputy prime minister who has died at the age of 86. Plus, Amol and Nick discuss their recollections of John Prescott and assess the impact he had on British politics.
You can listen to John Prescott on Desert Island Discs here, in an episode first broadcast in 2012: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b01c6trm
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson who are both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories and insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme make sure you subscribe on BBC Sounds. That way you’ll get an alert every time we release a new episode, and you won’t miss our extra bonus episodes either.
The Today Podcast was made by Lewis Vickers with Nadia Gyane. The technical producer was Nathan Chamberlain. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We get it. Life is busy. You want to keep up with the news, but there's just too much going on. |
| 0:06.9 | Which is where Newscast comes in. We do the work, and when you're ready to dig deeper into the day's news, you just pop us into your ears. |
| 0:14.8 | It does mean we have to put in the hard work, though. |
| 0:17.5 | Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:21.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:25.2 | Well, Nick, I wasn't expecting to be speaking to you on this podcast again so soon. |
| 0:29.3 | But overnight, we heard the news that John Prescott, who really was a towering figure. |
| 0:34.7 | It sounds almost cliché, but he was. |
| 0:36.3 | He was a giant, a titan in the |
| 0:37.7 | Labour movement. Tony Blair's deputy prime minister has died. Yes, I saw the news as I got on board |
| 0:43.2 | a flight from Bulgaria where I was reporting about migration. And although I knew he was very |
| 0:49.5 | ill, although I remembered my last encounter with him when he was obviously already quite unwell |
| 0:55.7 | without Alzheimer's. It was nevertheless a shock. And it's not just that he was a big figure, |
| 1:03.0 | Amel in the Labour movement. I would argue that without him, Tony Blair, wasn't really possible. |
| 1:09.0 | You have to remember what an extraordinary thing it was for Blair to take over the leadership |
| 1:14.5 | of the Labour Party. |
| 1:15.8 | He'd gone to Scotland's top public school, Fetes. |
| 1:19.2 | His father wanted to be an MP, but a conservative MP. |
| 1:24.0 | Tony Blair was not just middle class. |
| 1:26.3 | He relished his relationships with the wealthy and the successful, |
| 1:30.1 | with the North London set where he lived. |
| 1:33.2 | He needed a northern working class labour figure, like John Prescott, |
... |
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