‘What a guy’: Hull pays its respects at John Prescott’s funeral
‘What a guy’: Hull pays its respects at John Prescott’s funeral
Share:
Keir Starmer, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and more attend service for former deputy prime minister. The bells of Hull Minster rang out as perhaps the city’s most famous adopted son was bid a fond farewell. Two Jaguars brought John Prescott to the cathedral on Thursday in a nod to the “Two Jags” nickname he earned after it was revealed he used a ministerial one as well as his own. The former deputy prime minister’s coffin was adorned with red roses for Labour and white ones representing Yorkshire.
![[Jack Straw talks to a reporter]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/befccc909210fa2c6179f770a9a944d318b7879f/0_273_8192_4918/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
A crowd gathered outside as people paid respects to the city’s beloved former MP, who died in November aged 86, while inside were 300 of his closest friends, including the current and former prime ministers Keir Starmer, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
![[Two older women stand by a barrier outside the Minster, smiling at the camera]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/90240bb6f878e45a7f11fa13c2e9344d0b044fde/0_0_8192_4918/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell played the Welsh national anthem on the bagpipes as the coffin was brought in during the service. Though Prescott was born in Prestatyn and raised near Rotherham, he was beloved in the city that became his home.
Many of the Labour frontbench were also at the service, including the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and Andy Burnham, a former colleague of Prescott’s and the mayor of Greater Manchester. Mick Lynch, the RMT union leader, said outside the minster that Prescott had been a member of the union.
