John Prescott, Britain's longest-serving deputy prime minister who died on Wednesday, was indispensable to Tony Blair's New Labour government, a working-class trailblazer who connected with the public in ways most politicians cannot.

From fun nights on a ‘ship of shame’ on the Thames, to the acts of kindness and loyalty behind the scenes, John Prescott’s former cabinet colleague, Jack Straw, remembers a man who didn’t give a hoot

It is no exaggeration to say the Labour Party could never have won three consecutive full terms without John’ - Sir Tony Blair