Prescott punch

Shortly after the incident Prescott made a statement that described the events as a "frightening and regrettable incident" amid a "clearly hostile" crowd.^[9][11] The statement ended: "I was attacked by an individual. In the mêlée that followed I clearly defended myself. I believe that someone is now being questioned by the police and it would be quite improper and quite wrong to add any further comment". Clive Wolfendale, an assistant chief constable of North Wales Police said "clearly if there are any allegations made against [Prescott] as a result of these incidents, we will investigate. If that means questioning Mr Prescott, we will do that".^[9] In the event neither Evans nor Prescott were charged with any criminal offence.^[1][12]

Following the incident Prescott first made contact with Alastair Campbell, the Downing Street Director of Communications. Campbell was with Blair, who was filming an election segment for ITV News. Campbell recalled in his memoirs that there was initially silence on the line which he recognised as a sign that Prescott had a problem to relay. Campbell immediately told Prescott that he should apologise though Prescott retorted that Campbell had not when he punched Guardian political editor Michael White in the House of Commons in 1991. Campbell was then political editor of the Daily Mirror, and White had made a joke about Mirror owner Robert Maxwell who had recently died at sea. No apology was made by Prescott. Campbell informed Blair once filming had finished and they travelled from the studio in the company of PR adviser Anji Hunter who worried that "middle-class England will not understand" the reason why Prescott punched Evans.^[1]

At the time of the punch Brown was at the Labour Party headquarters at Millbank Tower in London. He was meeting with senior advisers including Douglas Alexander, Ian Austin, Lord Falconer, Lance Price, Philip Gould, key seats head Peter Hambly, polling head Greg Cook and Labour General Secretary Margaret McDonagh to discuss the next day's press conference. During the meeting McDonagh was informed of the punch by a Labour official. At the end of the meeting she announced that "there has been an incident in Rhyl. We don't know the details but we think that John Prescott may have punched someone". It proved difficult for Brown's team to contact Prescott to get more details as the mobile phone signal was patchy in Rhyl.^[1]

The news was broken by Shirley Lewis, Sky News' north-west correspondent, though initially without video of the punch itself. There was some panic at Millbank and an official called Sky News to threaten a libel suit over the reporting. It was the opinion of the Sky News team that Labour would have denied the incident had occurred if it had not been caught on camera.^[1] The Sky News footage was broadcast on their network and sold to other organisations, playing on the news that evening and the following morning.^[13] Once the footage appeared the libel threat was dropped. Brown stood by Prescott and ordered a statement prepared saying that the punch had been made in self defence. Price, in charge of the party's media strategy, refused to brief the statement before the footage had been viewed. Gould thought the incident would be viewed negatively by the public and affect Labour's poll performance. Some in the senior leadership team considered that Prescott would have to resign as the party, whose manifesto pledged to deal with yobbish behaviour, would be viewed as hypocritical.^[1]

The BBC News footage was later to appear but played a key part in helping the party leadership come to a decision on their response. The BBC camera showed the incident from the front (Sky's camera had been shooting over Prescott's shoulder) and showed the egg being thrown at point blank range and a punch from Evans hitting Prescott's face during the scuffle. Falconer and Alexander, former lawyers with experience in assault cases, stated that there was a good case to be made for Prescott acting in self defence. After this Price released the prepared statement.^[1] Blair thought this to be a wrong decision and was of the opinion that Prescott should have issued a full apology, others, including Joe Irvin, Prescott's representative at Millbank, were of the opinion that such an apology would be an admission of guilt.^[1][11]

The story led in most newspapers on 17 May 2001, relegating the Labour manifesto launch to the inside pages, with most of the coverage not negative in nature.^[6][11] This was a relief to Straw, who feared his reception at Blackpool would lead the news of the day but found it was eclipsed by the Rhyl and Birmingham hospital incidents.^[1] The Daily Mirror went with a single word headline "Manifisto", while The Sun christened Prescott "Two Jabs", an allusion to his nickname of "Two Jags", after his penchant for expensive official cars.^[14] The incident was referred to as the Prescott punch, Prescott's punch or the "Rumble in Rhyl".^[1][3][12]

That morning Blair was concerned about the questioning he would receive from the media in the pre-arranged press conference.^[11] Although at that morning's strategy meeting he confessed "I cannot talk about it without finding it funny". Campbell opined that "it will probably go down well with the D/Es" (meaning the working and non-working classes as identified on the NRS social grade).^[1] At the press conference Blair read a carefully worded statement saying that "in respect of John, of course it would have been better if the whole thing hadn't happened, but I want to say something to you about John Prescott. You could not wish for a deputy more loyal, more true and more decent. He cares about his country and he cares passionately about his politics. But John is John..." At the last line the audience of reporters laughed. Blair quickly realised that the incident would be treated lightly and in good humour.^[11] Despite this there remained a split in the opinion at Millbank, many younger female staff were appalled by the lack of punishment for Prescott. While Brown's team remained supportive some within Blair's team thought that Prescott should still have resigned.^[1]

There continued to be little in the way of negative coverage of the punch in the media.^[11] The increased coverage of the punch gave Labour a marginal advantage over the Conservatives in the quantity of coverage broadcast in the run-up to the election. When the punch coverage is removed from the data the share of coverage is approximately even.^[15] An observer for Mass-Observation noted that the news story was one of the few election-related stories to be reported in the United States.^[3] Opinion polls showed the public, particularly the working class, supported Prescott's reaction to the egg throw; a Sky News Active television poll of 38,000 people found 61% in support.^[11][16] In the 7 June general election Labour maintained a significant majority of 166 seats, down slightly from 179 in 1997. They saw their vote share fall marginally from 43.2% to 40.7% while the Conservatives saw a slight increase from 30.7% to 31.7%.^[17]

Although Brown considered that the incident could have ended Prescott's political career it seems to have done no harm, though it has been described by Clarke et al. as a gaffe.^[3][1] Later works have described the incident as bringing some light relief to the campaign, without harming the prospects of Labour in the election.^[18] It, and the Birmingham hospital incident, have been regarded as the only two memorable moments of the entire campaign.^[5][2] The Times Guide to the House of Commons has called the incident "one of the ugliest, and in many ways, the most humorous, scuffles of modern electoral history".^[13] For a while the "Prescott Wave", a clenched left fist salute, became popular and Prescott was greeted with it at many of his later campaign appearances.^[1] A number of internet sites inspired by the punch were established. They offered the chance for the user to virtually punch a number of politicians or to have them punch others.^[19]

Prescott considered the incident had been set-up by the Countryside Alliance as part of their protest against the proposed abolition of fox hunting. Prescott had clashed with the movement before and at the 2000 Labour Party conference had said "every time I see the Countryside Alliance and their contorted faces, I vow to redouble my efforts to abolish fox-hunting".^[1] Prescott's friend the former union leader Rodney Bickerstaffe, claimed the incident showed Prescott's age (he was then 62), "I told him it was a good left, but it had no weight. In the past, the lad would not have got up. He must be losing his touch".^[1]

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