Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott dies aged 86

For many, Prescott was and forever will be a shining beacon of the Labour Party's core values. Having left school school without qualifications before becoming a union activist, a local advocate for Hull, and a working class counterweight to Tony Blair's air of elitism, there are not many left within Labour who can truly claim to be of the people in a way Prescott so unapologetically was. Often a broker between the butting heads of Blair and Brown, Prescott's role in the rise of New Labour was more important than he ever was given credit for, and his passing is a true loss to British politics.