In the evening of 16 May 2001, John Prescott, the British deputy prime minister, was hit in the face by an egg while walking to a Labour Party election rally at the Little Theatre in Rhyl, North Wales, in the run-up to the 2001 United Kingdom general election. Prescott hit the protester who had thrown the egg, agricultural worker Craig Evans who now works as an enforcement officer for Natural Resources Wales, with a left-handed jab. A brief scuffle ensued, during which Prescott was pushed into a wall before police and Labour Party supporters moved Evans away. The incident came on the same day that the Labour Party's election manifesto had been launched. Earlier in the day Prime Minister Tony Blair had been confronted by an angry relative of a patient in a Birmingham hospital, and Home Secretary Jack Straw had been jeered at a conference of the Police Federation of England and Wales.
Labour's senior leadership were divided on how to respond to the incident, which Prescott characterised as an act of self defence. Alastair Campbell, Downing Street Director of Communications, told Prescott to apologise but he refused. Sky News broke the first news of the incident and were threatened with a libel suit by Labour. Chancellor of the Exchequer and Labour's election campaign leader Gordon Brown stood by Prescott, though Blair thought an apology should have been made.
The story led most newspapers on 17 May and coverage was generally not negative. Blair referred to the incident in a cautious manner at that morning's press conference but it became clear that the press were treating it as a humorous occurrence. Polls found that the public were supportive of Prescott's response to being egged at close range and it did not affect Labour's poll standing. Labour won the election, with a slightly reduced but still very large majority.
Campaigning by all parties was low-key and Clarke et al. (2018) state that Labour's campaign was perceived to be dull and "overly stage-managed".[3][4] In 2002 political scientist Anthony King described the campaign as "one of the dullest in recent history".[2][5]
Day of the incident
Jack Straw, pictured later in 2001
On the day of the incident, 16 May 2001, Labour had launched their manifesto at an event in Birmingham. Prescott, with other senior party figures, had travelled to the event aboard a chartered train from London. Cabinet ministers afterwards travelled to the regions to launch the manifesto locally.[1] Blair went to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham where he was confronted by Sharron Storer, the partner of a cancer patient who was angry with the level of treatment he was receiving from the National Health Service (NHS). Improvements to the NHS had been a key objective in Labour's 1997 manifesto.[1][6] The home secretary, Jack Straw, travelled to Blackpool to address a conference of the Police Federation of England and Wales on the law and order pledges in the 2001 manifesto.[1] Straw was jeered at the conference and laughed at when he said that being a police officer was a "good job".[7][pageneeded] During the same day William Hague, leader of the rival Conservative Party, was forced to abandon a planned walkabout in Wolverhampton on security advice, due to a rowdy demonstration.[8]
Prescott, unaware of the Blair and Straw incidents, travelled to Rhyl, North Wales, where he was to address a Labour Party election rally at the town's Little Theatre.[1][8] His campaign bus, the Prescott Express, arrived outside the theatre at 6:35pm.[1] The bus parked opposite the theatre and Prescott and his team had to cross the A525 Vale Road to reach the venue. Prescott crossed at a pedestrian crossing onto the opposite footpath which ran between a pedestrian guard rail and a low wall.[1][8]
Some 30 protesters picketed the venue, demonstrating against low agricultural wages and Labour's support for a fox hunting ban.[8] A Sky News crew, tipped off that there would be a protest, filmed Prescott's arrival, as did a BBC News camera.[1] An egg was thrown at Prescott as he approached the protesters but it missed.[8] Some of the protesters occupied the space between the guard rail and the wall and were not moved on by the two police officers that preceded Prescott's team.[1] As Prescott reached the footpath he had no direct police guard; his closest support was his special adviser Joan Hammell, Labour Party official Jessica Morden and assistant Beverley Priest.[1] His main escort Martin Angus, had drifted out in front in a hurry to get into the venue.
As Prescott passed protester Craig Evans, a local farm worker, Evans threw an egg at Prescott at point-blank range.[3] The egg hit Prescott in the side of the face and dripped down his neck, which Prescott initially thought was his own blood.[1][9] Prescott reacted with what The Independent's political journalist Colin Brown described as "an instinctive boxer's jab with the left fist" at Evans.[1] There followed a scuffle between the two men and other parties, which the BBC described as an "undignified brawl".[9] Prescott was pushed onto the low wall and was nearly toppled over before the police and his supporters intervened and broke up the fight.[8][9]
After the incident Evans was moved away by the police and Prescott walked into the venue, with the BBC describing him as appearing to be "clearly shaken" by the events.[9] In his 2008 memoir, Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches, Prescott recalls wondering at this point whether the incident would make the newspapers at all. He was also concerned that the video footage would not show the height advantage Evans had over him and that the reporting would portray Prescott as a "sixteen-stone bruiser".[10] During the rally a convoy of vehicles drove past the theatre, honking their horns in support of the protest. The convoy was led by Brynle Williams, a leader of the 2000 fuel protests.[8]
Aftermath
Campbell, pictured in 2003
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]
After 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]
Douglas Alexander, pictured in 2008
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, polling head Peter Hambly 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]
Impact on campaigning
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]
Related Research Articles
The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party was re-elected to serve a second term in government with another landslide victory with a 167-seat majority, returning 412 members of Parliament versus 418 from the 1997 general election, a net loss of six seats, though with a significantly lower turnout than before—59.4%, compared to 71.6% at the previous election. The number of votes Labour received fell by nearly three million. Tony Blair went on to become the only Labour Prime Minister to serve two consecutive full terms in office. As Labour retained almost all of their seats won in the 1997 landslide victory, the media dubbed the 2001 election "the quiet landslide".
The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority.
The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the House of Commons.
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull East for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. He was seen as the political link to the working class in a Labour Party increasingly led by modernising, middle-class professionals such as Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson and developed a reputation as a key conciliator in the often fractious relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown.
New Labour is the name given to the period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen in a draft manifesto which was published in 1996 and titled New Labour, New Life for Britain. It was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. The branding was extensively used while the party was in government between 1997 and 2010. New Labour was influenced by the political thinking of Anthony Crosland and the leadership of Blair and Brown as well as Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell's media campaigning. The political philosophy of New Labour was influenced by the party's development of Anthony Giddens' Third Way which attempted to provide a synthesis between capitalism and socialism. The party emphasised the importance of social justice, rather than equality, emphasising the need for equality of opportunity and believed in the use of markets to deliver economic efficiency and social justice.
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster, and activist, who is known for his political roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director in opposition (1994–1997), then as Downing Street Press Secretary, and as the Prime Minister's Official Spokesperson (1997–2000). He then became Downing Street's director of communications and spokesman for the Labour Party (2000–2003). He returned as campaign director for the 2005 general election in Blair's third win.
The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when the House of Commons is in recess, after each year's second Liberal Democrat Conference and before the Conservative Party Conference. The Labour Party Conference opens on a Sunday and finishes the following Wednesday, with an address by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party; the Leader's address is usually on the Tuesday. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Conservative Party Conference, which does not hold votes on party policy, at the Labour Party Conference, 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and the other 50% to Constituency Labour Parties, but all voting in both categories is restricted to nominated representatives.
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first to be held after a full term of a majority Labour government. The general election was held on Thursday 23 February 1950, and was also the first to be held following the abolition of plural voting and university constituencies. The government's lead over the Conservative Party shrank dramatically, and Labour was returned to power but with an overall majority significantly reduced from 146 to just 5. There was a 2.8% national swing towards the Conservatives, who gained 90 seats. Labour called another general election the following year, which the Conservative Party won, returning Churchill to government after six years in opposition.
Alun Edward Michael is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 1999 to 2000. He went on to serve as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 to 2024.
The Socialist Campaign Group, also simply known as the Campaign Group, is a UK parliamentary caucus of the Labour Party including Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The group also includes some MPs who formerly represented Labour in Parliament but have had the whip withdrawn or been expelled from the party.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. This would be the last election not won by the Conservative Party as of 2024.This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, and as of 2024 remains the party's most recent general election victory.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system.
Thomas Adam Babington Boulton is a British journalist and broadcaster who is regular panelist on TalkTV. He was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News, and presenter of All Out Politics and Week In Review. He is also the former political editor of Sky News. He is based at Sky News' Westminster studios in Central London. He was previously the political editor of TV-am, an ITV early-morning broadcasting franchise holder. He held the post of Sky's political editor since being asked to establish its politics team for the launch of the channel in 1989. He is the former presenter of Sky News' Sunday Live with Adam Boulton, and presented a regular weekday news and political programme on Sky News, entitled Boulton and Co from 2011 to 2014.
Dave the Chameleon was the British Labour Party's advertising slogan, and the basis of their political campaign, for the 2006 local elections. The campaign attempted to portray the recently elected leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, as an ever-changing populist who will be whatever people want him to be. It was criticised as being a particularly negative form of campaigning, though some have disputed this. In particular, the BBC political editor Nick Robinson said "you say, the public hate negative advertising. To which I say – nonsense, poppycock and balderdash", adding that "they remember it when it's good".
Tony Blair's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 2 May 1997 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding John Major of the Conservative Party, and ended on 27 June 2007 upon his resignation. While serving as prime minister, Blair also served as the first lord of the treasury, minister for the civil service and leader of the Labour Party. He and Gordon Brown both extensively used the New Labour branding while in office, which was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics. Blair is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office.
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists, and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. Since the 2010 general election, it has been the second-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast, behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference.
The 2010 United Kingdom student protests were a series of demonstrations in November and December 2010 that took place in several areas of the country, with the focal point of protests being in central London. Largely student-led, the protests were held in opposition to planned spending cuts to further education and an increase of the cap on tuition fees by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government following their review into higher education funding in England. Student groups said that the intended cuts to education were excessive, would damage higher education, give students higher debts, and broke campaign promises made by politicians.
Events from 2001 in England
The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, triggering a concurrent election for the deputy leadership.
The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
