Refuge

This is very old news (by very old, I mean over a year old), but I only just came across and it seemed noteworthy.

The UK currently has no official post of Deputy Prime Minister (a large, red notice on the website of the office of the Deputy Prime Minister proclaims that the site is only being maintained for "archival/historical purposes"). The previous owner of the title was John Prescott MP. I recently read a transcript of an interview he took part in on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 (from which the quotes which follow are sourced). Political sketch-writers have often ridiculed Prescott's unique manner of speech, but this real example of his eloquence and verbal dexterity does, to my mind, render satire unnecessary. For example, the following question posed by John Humpreys:

"Why did you say you had made a donation to charity out of your own money when in fact the donation to charity was made out of government money?" Source: BBC

elicited a response from John Prescott which included the following:

"I didn't know until later that the payment of it - and I always thought it was public payment - had done by arrangement of a payment to charity 'cos they didn't want to receive a payment." Source: BBC

An interesting, if incomprehensible, answer. No surprise, then, that Gordon Brown chose not to keep him on as deputy leader. Incidentally, the BBC (reliably impartial and consistently highbrow) put together, in 2003, a short summary of John Prescott's most memorable gaffes (sadly, too old to include the American ranch debacle).