Angela Rayner shares reason she and John Prescott were alike – and not just ‘no-nonsense’ character

The Deputy Labour leader said her predecessor should be remembered for the issues and causes he championed – as well as his no-nonsense character

John Prescott should be remembered not only for his character – but for the issues and causes he championed, long-time friend Angela Rayner said.

And she said the similarities between the two deputy Labour leaders go beyond their no-nonsense approach to politics.

“Everyone talks about how uncanny it is, me and him are very similar, come from a similar background and say it how we see it,” she said.

“But actually if you look at what I’m my program for government now, it’s very much legacy building on what John delivered when he was deputy Prime Minister.

“The devolution agenda, employment rights – he obviously did quite a lot on seafarers – and tackling regional inequalities, the first ever agreement on climate change. He had so much substance.

“But obviously like like John, I get the character bit – nobody talks about the substance. It’s usually the character, but John had so much depth to him and and his legacy is far more than his character.”

She went on: “I’ve obviously followed on from what what John has done and he’s been incredibly supportive of me when I became deputy leader. He was so pleased and he came around and and worked with me on the campaign.

And every time I did Prime Ministers questions he’d always ring me up afterwards and say “That was brilliant” and “You did really well” and “you really socked it to them.”

“That was his that was his favourite phrase”