Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will today be laid to rest, with mourners paying their final respects at a service in Hull.
Among them will be his devoted wife, Pauline, who stuck loyally by the Labour Party giant’s side throughout the ups and downs of his fascinating career. And away from the turmoil of Downing Street politics, the couple had plenty of personal battles to fight.
The late politician, who died in November at the age of 86, previously opened up about his first meeting with Pauline, with his future wife catching his eye at a bus stop in Chester. He wasted no time in scheduling a cinema date.
In his autobiography, fittingly titled Pulling No Punches, Prescott remembered: “We were both on the rebound, so it was fortunate timing. Can’t remember what the film was, but I know she talked all the way through it, and I was a bit embarrassed.”
Although the film may not have been memorable, the company certainly was, and it soon became clear to the young couple that they were meant for each other. However, when the time came to pop the all-important question, Pauline wasn’t exactly thrilled by his choice of location.
In her own autobiography, Pauline, affectionately referred to as ‘Tilly’ to loved ones, revealed how her then-boyfriend proposed to her in a “cramped train toilet”.
She shareed: “My oh-so-romantic husband-to-be pushed me into the cramped train toilet. Pressed me up against the basin, he kissed me and blurted, ‘Marry me?’. ‘John Prescott,’ I cried indignantly. ‘I see the art of romance isn’t dead, then?”
The young couple tied the knot in 1961. Back then, she was a 22-year-old hairdresser, while John was a 23-year-old ship’s steward. But a career in politics eventually came beckoning, and Pauline supported her fiery husband up the ranks.
They went on to welcome two children together, David and Jonathan, with David following in his father’s footsteps to become an aide to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Their marriage, which lasted more than 60 years, was not without its trials, with Prescott’s scandalous affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple shaking their happy home life.
Prescott confessed to having been unfaithful in the spring of 2006, with the fling having taken place between the years 2002 and 2004. He told the Mirror at the time: “I did have a relationship with her which I regret. It ended some time ago. I have discussed this fully with my wife, Pauline, who is devastated by the news. I would be grateful if Pauline and I can now get on with our lives together.”
Prescott, who was then at the very heart of British politics, began his liaison with Tracey at an office party, with the pair going on to meet in secret at his government-owned flat.
Recalling the moment she found out in an interview with the Mail Online, Pauline shared how she’d initially misunderstood his need to talk after he returned home one Thursday evening. She remembered: “[Prescott said] ‘Let’s go to the bedroom’”, to which she replied: “Oh, I love a man who orders me upstairs.”
It was then that the world as she knew it fell apart, with Prescot confessing all about his affair. Throwing him out, Pauline blasted her husband as a ‘damn fool’, but after their sons arranged a meeting at home – which she initially tried to flee – the couple began to work through their issues.
For Prescott, the regret continued to linger long afterward however. Pauline said: “He’ll regret the affair till the day he dies. And if love had been involved I couldn’t have coped. It was very, very hurtful but it is in the past.
“You can’t really forgive and forget because it happened, and yet you move on and you build from that. If we hadn’t been so close, I couldn’t have, but, you know – our whole family – I didn’t want to lose all that.
“Because what we had has been lovely and what we have is good. And the decision I made was absolutely right. Most people run away and then it all comes to divorce and ‘you get this and I get that’. But there’s more to marriage than that.”
Forgiveness didn’t come easy, and Pauline previously admitted that she felt like ‘choking’ her hubby after the revelations came to light.
Opening up about how the public attention had been trying to say the least, Pauline admitted: “When I finished choking him, I started to think. I read every article in every paper. John told me I was crucifying myself but I just had to read it so I knew how to deal with it. I was about to have a lovely loo put in. John said I’d have to cancel all that but I didn’t.”
Ultimately, it was Pauline who urged John not to quit the Labour Party amid a fierce backlash. Prescott said at the time: “I thought I’d probably have to resign. I had brought shame on the family.”
Durring a 2012 episode of BBC Radio 4 programme On The Ropes, Prescott spoke with emotion about the affair, confessing: “I have got no excuses for it.”
Prescott told listeners: “I felt very bad about it. I made the statement to conference because I felt I had let everybody down. I just got to a stage where I thought to myself: “Well if you feel that bad, can you continue doing your job?”
“I talked to my wife: She was very strong and supportive,’ he added. ‘I was fortunate to be a man who has a wife who’s obviously more mature than me.”
In a statement made following Prescott’s death in November, his loved ones said: “We are deeply saddened to inform you that our beloved husband, father and grandfather, John Prescott, passed away peacefully yesterday at the age of 86.”
“John spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment. He did so from his time as a waiter on the cruise liners to becoming Britain’s longest-serving deputy prime minister.
“John dearly loved his home of Hull, and representing its people in Parliament for 40 years was his greatest honour.”
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