Lord Prescott hit the headlines on the general election campaign trail in 2001 after throwing a left-handed punch at a man who threw an egg at him. The ex-merchant seaman earned the nickname “two jabs” following the incident in Rhyl, north Wales – a variation on the “two Jags” he was called for his fondness for luxury cars. Former prime minister Sir Tony told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday “had a lot of really funny times” with his deputy, adding “he could be a very amusing guy”.
Clearly emotional, he said: “I was just thinking this morning about the the time when in the 2001 election – remember when someone smashed an egg on his head and he turned around and he punched the guy and laid him out? “This caused a huge sort of fracas, this was an immense media story, and we had to give a press conference in the election campaign the next day. “And some people were saying, ‘Well, look, he’s deputy prime minister, you can’t have a deputy prime minister thumping a voter.’ “And other people said .
.. ‘he had this egg slammed in his head, and he turned around and and whacked the guy, and a lot of people think, Well, fair enough.
’ “And so there was nothing you could do. So we had a long debate about it and finally, at the press conference, when I was asked about it, I just said, ‘Well, John is John.’ “And so was that supposed to be an answer? I said, ‘Yes, that’s an answer.
’ That’s as much as you can say, and that’s .
