Former British deputy prime minister John Prescott is being hailed as a working class hero after his death aged 86

LONDON – British politician John Prescott, a combative and personable former merchant seaman who rose to become deputy prime minister in Tony Blair’s Labor government, has died aged 86.

Prescott’s family announced his death Thursday. They said the politician, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died on Wednesday in a nursing home “surrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery.”

The family said Prescott “spent his life improving the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment.”

For a decade, Prescott brought courage, humor and working-class authenticity to the government of the young, dapper Blair, who became prime minister in 1997.

“He was one of the most talented people I have ever met in politics, one of the most dedicated and loyal and definitely the most unusual,” Blair said.

An amateur boxer in his youth, Prescott had a defining moment when he punched a man who had thrown an egg at him during the 2001 general election.

The riot briefly appeared as if it could damage the Labor Party and Prescott’s career. But Blair’s answer – “John is John” – cemented his popular status.

Born in North Wales in 1938, Prescott left school at the age of 15 and worked as a steward on a cruise ship before entering politics through the trade union movement – a once common route that became rarer after Blair led the left-wing party in New York “renamed Labor” and shifted its policies to the center,

Prescott was a proud working-class figure in a country where there are still few people with that background at the top of politics. He had an unconditional love for the finer things in life and was nicknamed “Two Jaguars” by the press because he owned two Jaguar luxury cars.

The egg thrower beating incident earned him another nickname: “Two Jabs.”

Prescott was Blair’s deputy between 1997 and 2007. One of his proudest achievements was working with then US Vice President Al Gore on the landmark Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement in 1997.

Gore said he had “never worked with anyone in politics — on my side or his side — as much as John Prescott.”

“He fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and was a steadfast climate change advocate for decades. “I am forever grateful to John for his commitment to solving the climate crisis and will miss him as a dear friend,” Gore said in a statement.

Prescott helped ease the sometimes tense relationship between Blair and his finance chief, Gordon Brown, and acted as a bridge between the party’s traditionalists and Blair’s modernizing faction. Brown said he was key to keeping the party together after Blair’s controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, a Blair ally, said Prescott was “the glue that holds New Labor together”.

Prescott represented his hometown of Hull in the north of England for four decades. After Labor lost power in 2010, he was appointed a member of the unelected upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords.

Brown, who succeeded Blair as prime minister, described Prescott as a true working-class hero.

“He wanted the good things in life for everyone and not just for himself,” Brown said. “And he showed that Britain can be a country where if you work hard you can achieve your potential.”

He is survived by his wife Pauline and sons Johnathan and David.