John Prescott incidents that have caused widespread media interest. During the 2001 election campaign, Prescott was campaigning in Rhyl, Denbighshire when farmer Craig Evans threw an egg at him, which struck him in the neck. Prescott, a former amateur boxer, responded immediately with a straight left to the jaw. The incident, overshadowing the launch of the Labour Party manifesto on that day, was captured by numerous television crews. Tony Blair responded succinctly, stating, "John is John". A National Opinion Polls (NOP) survey found that the incident appeared to do no public harm to Prescott, and may even have benefited his standing amongst
Sir William Prescott, 1st Baronet Prescott was MP for Darwen. Sir William Prescott, 1st Baronet Sir William Henry Prescott, 1st Baronet, CBE, DL (1874 – 15 June 1945) was a British engineer and Conservative Party politician. The son of John Prescott, he initially studied law and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1909. He subsequently took up a career in civil engineering, acting as a consultant to a number of government committees on water supply and roads. During the First World War he was commanding officer of 222nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.