biography
| name: |
Prescott, John (Leslie)
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| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1938– )
|
| biography:
| British politician, born in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, NC Wales, UK. He served in the merchant navy (1955–63), and studied at Oxford and Hull universities. In 1968 he became an officer of the National Union of Seamen, and a Labour MP in 1970. Although opposed to Britain's membership of the European Community, he was elected to the European Parliament in 1975, and became leader of the Labour group (1976–9). In the shadow cabinet he was spokesman for employment, energy, and transport, and he was deputy leader of the party (1994–7). In the 1997 Labour government, he was appointed deputy prime minister and secretary of state for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. After the general election he retained his position as deputy prime minister and became first secretary of state at the Cabinet office and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (2001–2), and after a Cabinet reshuffle in 2002 was given responsibility for local government and the regions. |
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