John Prescott 1938-2024

The UK's longest-serving deputy PM was a vital bridge between Labour's past and future during the Blair years

- Pippa Crerar

The first time I met John Prescott, we were in a helicopter flying over east London where he and Tony Blair, the then prime minister, also on board, were announcing a multimillion-pound regeneration plan.

It was August 2003 and I was a young pool reporter for the Press Association, there to ask the politicians about their plans. The flight was noisy, so conversation was limited. But as we flew over the Millennium Dome site, which lay empty as the government was struggling to sell it, "Prezza" tapped Blair on the arm and pointed out of the window at the huge structure below, a wide grin on his face.

Blair, perhaps unsurprisingly given the flak he'd received for the £1m-a-month ($1.25m) cost of maintaining the site, arched an eyebrow and smiled wanly at his deputy's effort to find humour in the situation. It was a momentary glimpse into their dynamic, but an insightful one. "To say we were partners would never capture the nature of our relationship. There was nothing formal about it," Blair said in his tribute after the announcement of Prescott's death, at the age of 86, last week.