Son of Labour’s former deputy PM John Prescott joins the Greens
The son of former Labor deputy prime minister John Prescott has joined the Green Party.
David Prescott, who also tried to become a Labor MP, is thought to have become a member of Zack Polanski’s party last October, a year after his father’s death.
A post on Facebook shows him with Green activists in Gorton and Denton, the constituency where the party won a crucial House of Commons by-election last week.
Alongside the photo, Mr. Polanski wrote: “Really pleased to host David Prescott on the day we hit 200,000 members of the Green Party.”
His father, John Prescott, served as deputy prime minister for a decade and was a key part of Tony Blair’s government.
Karl Turner, who replaced Mr Prescott as the Labor MP for Hull East at the 2010 general election, said leaving the party was a “huge disappointment” but “no surprise”.
“David was born into the Labor Party and, like me, came from a solid socialist and unionist family,” he told Sky News.
“Again, like me, David was politically active from a very young age. David was always his own man, not her father.”
But he added: “I suspect John Prescott would be furious if he were around today.
“But his anger will be directed at Labor for allowing progressive voters to leave Labor and go to what they see as a left-wing, more progressive alternative to the party he has worked his entire adult life to elect into government, changing the lives of the many for the better, not the few.”
Humiliating byelection defeats in Gorton and Denton left Labor in third place behind Nigel Farage’s Reform and the victorious Greens.
The Prime Minister vowed to “keep fighting” and refused to indulge speculation about his future after his party failed to hold on to a constituency considered one of Labour’s safest areas.
But angry backbenchers cast doubt on his ability to lead the country and lead the party to electoral success. Independent He said it was no longer a question of “whether to withdraw, but when.”
Sir Keir’s woes deepened further when a new poll earlier this week showed the Greens had overtaken Labor to become the second most popular party.
Following his sensational by-election victory, Mr Polanski’s party saw its support rise by four points to 21 per cent, while Labor and the Conservatives were tied on 16 per cent; both fell two points, Labor’s lowest score on record.
Reform UK led with 23 per cent, down one point, while the Liberal Democrats remained unchanged on 14 per cent, according to YouGov polling for Sky News on Sunday and Monday.
David Prescott was a Labor MP candidate for Gainsborough in the 2015 general election but lost to the Conservative Party’s Edward Leigh.
While he served as a key member of Jeremy Corbyn’s team in 2017, he was temporarily suspended from that role after the party received allegations against him. He denied the allegations. Labor later said no formal complaint had been made.
