More work to do to protect the minimum wage from Tories. http://bit.ly/i0zZA4 Thanks to @JohnPrescott for re-opening #wageconcern campaign.—
  (@alexsmith1982) March 04, 2011

Miliband’s one man internet rebuttal team used Prescott earlier in an attempt to shut down any debate about the minimum wage. Unfortunate timing for them though as this morning we learn that Prezza is earning nearly £800 per day in Lords expenses. The £10,016 claimed seems extortionate given he clocked in for just thirteen working days. Around £121.50 a day, was for ‘overnight subsistence’ while a further £1,125 went on ‘day subsistence’, covering food and travel. The rest was on staff.

If Prezza is so concerned about the minimum wage, perhaps he would like to lead from the front and take a pay cut?

While we are on hypocrisy and twitter. Guido had to love this message from some anoymous Labour hack:

Drinking champagne at the Ken Livingstone Gala Dinner at the Globe. Second evening in a row in Ed Miliband's presence. #fb—
Bex Bailey (@BexBailey6) March 03, 2011

Champaign and socalism? There should be a phrase for that…

First it was Gavin and Stacy and now it’s Money Supermarket:

Wouldn’t give up the day job. Oh wait…

According to the Guardian one cable reveals how the US embassy in London passed on intelligence about a British Labour minister, picked up from civil servant contacts, saying he “reportedly remains a bit of a hound dog where women are concerned” he was “forced to apologize … to a female … who accused him of sexual harassment … and has had marital troubles in the last few years … Contacts who know him well report he has manic depressive tendencies – ‘he’s very up one minute, very down the next’, and at least one … colleague has described xxx as a ‘bully’.”

Guido’s money is on Prescott, this rumour went around some years ago and concerned not Tracey Temple but another civil servant. The Guardian’s quest for transparency has limits – they are holding back the name – your media betters keeping you in the dark…

UPDATE : Some suggestion that it is Ivan Lewis. To be fair, it could be any one of many randy Labour ministers…

If you thought the government coalition negotiations were complex and a turn up for the books, Guido thinks it would have been fascinating to have been a fly on the wall when this campaign coalition against the LibDems was brought together. Here is the first look at the list of “patrons” of the NO to AV campaign who under the presidency of Labour’s Margaret Beckett will represent the campaign for next May’s referendum:

• David Blunkett MP
• Lord Falconer QC
• Lord Prescott
• Lord Reid
• Emily Thornberry MP
• Ken Clarke QC MP
• William Hague MP
• Steve Norris
• Baroness Warsi

Seeing old enemies Hague and Prezza united against the LibDem dominated Yes-2-AV campaign will be interesting…

Former Met Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman says…

“We have to get real over this. This is just another episode of Lord Prescott’s rants… You know, he’s nothing special, he was on a list, along with lots of other celebrities and well-known people, held by a journalist – and that’s no different to a contact list that’s being held by any other journalist, come to that. Now if – and it’s been reviewed – if I have proved to be wrong, then I’ll eat my words and face the music. But my understanding is, there is absolutely no evidence from that initial investigation of his phone being hacked, so why he thinks he is anything special, I do not know. I don’t believe that a judicial review will reveal anything more than what has already been reviewed by my successor, also by the Crown Prosecution Service and by other bodies. It could actually end up being a waste of public money and only ever putting Lord Prescott on a bigger platform.”

John Prescott has launched a claim for judicial review of the police on the grounds that they violated his human rights. If you think he is doing his usual grandstanding you are right. The police didn’t violate his human rights under Article 8 as he claims, it is more likely the convicted phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire violated his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention:

ARTICLE 8

• Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
• There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

The purpose of his action is to put political pressure on the police to re-open the investigation into Coulson, not protect his human rights.

UPDATE : Punters give Coulson only a 17% chance of going. Might be worth a buy at that cheap price…

UPDATE II : M’learned friends in the comments point out that Mulcaire himself couldn’t be prosecuted under that law because he isn’t a public authority.

In giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Yates of the Yard has thrown a spanner into the Labour spin machine as it tries to keep the Coulson story going.  John Prescott has made a  song and dance of the fact his phone was “hacked” – a fact flatly denied by the police. He is not on the list of suspected victims. Prezza has been caught telling porkies…

If Prezza isn’t on it, claims by Chris Bryant are looking shaky, as are the rumours that Mandy and even Blair were on the list.  If this was true Guido would rather a newspaper was quick to spot the security flaws and not Iranian intelligence. The Labour Party are obviously so keen to make capital out of this issue that they aren’t going to let a pesky bit of truth get in the way. Though it’s funny the sudden change of heart that Alan Johnson has had. While he was Home Secretary he was adamant that there was no grounds for an inquiry and there was nothing he could do, yet he has taken a very different tone in opposition. Many wondered why Johnson didn’t run for leader and perhaps now, without such a great need to keep News International’s tabloids away, we might read why exactly Alan Johnson was so keen to avoid confrontation with Coulson’s former employers while in office.

It seems that these PM Direct events are giving hacks endless copy over the quieter months of the summer. Asset rich David Cameron declared earlier that he is “middle-class” (despite the Eton education and blue blooded wife.) Cue a mild flurry of gasps and stifled laughs.

Baron Prescott of Kingston-upon-Hull, a long way from Cunard these days, once said “we are all middle class now”. Has the Prime Minster finally found something he can agree on with his lingering old tormentor? When these two place themselves in the same band, surely it is the end of the class system as we know it.  Either way, expect this one to trigger far more column inches tomorrow than need be…

So it’s Baron Prezza of Kingston-on-Hull. And more importantly Lady Prescott too. A quiet and subdued Prescott has just taken his oath. The millionaire didn’t look very happy during the whole process.

Must have been all that “flummery”…

The very idea of John Precott being in the Lords is one of the strongest arguments for reforming it. Though if that wasn’t enough, Guido understands the wheels are in motion for him to stand as the replacement of the newly elected Jack Dromey as Treasurer of the Labour Party.

Given this oaf somehow managed to reach the giddy heights of Deputy Prime Minister, he shouldn’t have too much problem sewing up this internal job. After Labour’s notoriously dodgy past of illegal donations, having such a competent and shrewd man liaising with the Electoral Commission can only be an improvement. Bad news for those who hoped John Prescott would just disappear into obscurity once in the Lords and spend all day at lunch. Guido has a feeling this is not going to end well though.