UK: Labour Party 'colossus' John Prescott dies

London [UK], November 22: Britain's former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was known among other things for his work on the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement in 1997, has died in a care home, aged 86, his family said on Thursday.
"We are deeply saddened to inform you that our beloved husband, father and grandfather, John Prescott, passed away yesterday [Wednesday] at the age of 86," a statement read.
The family said Prescott had "spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment."
Prescott served as deputy prime minister to Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007 and is credited with having helped Blair to move the leftist Labour Party toward the political center by using his working-class credentials to appease members of the party further to the left.
He later was made a life peer and was appointed to the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament, a position he gave up in July amid health problems, having had a stroke five years previously in addition to suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Source: Times of Oman