Lord John Prescott’s most famous moment was when he thumped a farmer who had egged him outside a Labour rally in Rhyl in 2001

The incident helped cement his reputation as the politician who pulled no punches (Pictured in 2015)

Mr Prescott wrestling Craig Evans. Lord Prescott later quipped he was ‘connecting with the electorate’

John Prescott and Tony Blair appear at the Labour party conference in 1996

Lord Prescott said at the time: ‘I was attacked by an individual. In the melee that followed I clearly defended myself.’

Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday he ‘had a lot of really funny times’ with his deputy, adding ‘he could be a very amusing guy’.

Clearly emotional, he said: ‘I was just thinking this morning about the the time when in the 2001 election – remember when someone smashed an egg on his head and he turned around and he punched the guy and laid him out?

‘This caused a huge sort of fracas, this was an immense media story, and we had to give a press conference in the election campaign the next day.

‘And some people were saying, ‘Well, look, he’s deputy prime minister, you can’t have a deputy prime minister thumping a voter.’

‘And other people said … ‘he had this egg slammed in his head, and he turned around and and whacked the guy, and a lot of people think, Well, fair enough.’

‘And so there was nothing you could do. So we had a long debate about it and finally, at the press conference, when I was asked about it, I just said, ‘Well, John is John.’

‘And so was that supposed to be an answer? I said, ‘Yes, that’s an answer.’ That’s as much as you can say, and that’s what he was like, there were no rules that he really abided by.

‘I feel a huge sense of loss, because it wasn’t just a political relationship. I had a profound affection for him.’

A number of newspaper surveys carried out after the punch suggested the public supported his actions.

Lord Prescott was interviewed by police but he was not prosecuted.

The Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was no realistic chance of convicting him because he had acted in self-defence.

Former Labour Cabinet minister Paul Murphy has been telling BBC Radio Wales Breakfast how he helped clean up John Prescott after a man threw an egg at him during the general election campaign in 2001.

The infamous incident, where Prescott responded by punching the man, has come to be known as the ‘Prescott Punch’ or the ‘Rumble in Rhyl’. ‘I was hosting the meeting he was coming to and I recall vividly that I was inside the hall and somebody came in to tell me that someone had thrown egg at John, and I said ‘dear me or other words’, and two seconds later he’d hit him,’ says Murphy, describing it as a ‘very difficult situation’.

‘He (John) came in dishevelled, and you can imagine his language was quite strong, and I was with him when he was washing the egg off and then the phone calls came in from Alistair Campbell and, of course, Tony Blair’.

Mr Evans spent several hours in police custody but no action was taken against him either.

In June that year, Labour won a second term in government.

Today the former prime minister was tearful as he said: ‘There was no-one quite like him in British politics. Underneath what could be a fierce exterior, and a manner some undoubtedly found intimidating, beat a loving, kind and compassionate human heart’.

The former Labour deputy prime minister was nicknamed ‘Two Jags’ due to his long love affair with them while in high office, including one infamous trip where he drove 200 yards in one to attend an engagement.

But he famously got rid of them in 2021, declaring: ‘I am now Zero Jags. It is my own small contribution to cutting carbon emissions’.

His family said he had ‘spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment’ as he worked under Sir Tony Blair (right)

Lord Prescott and his loyal wife Pauline on his 82nd birthday in 2020. She stood by him for more than 60 years

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the 1998 Brit awards after being soaked with water by Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba. Prescott speaks at the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool, October 1992

Former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (pictured in 2012) has died at the age of 86, his family has said

Lord Prescott became used to the finer things in life, enjoying croquet on the lawn of his country house at a time when he was in charge of the country.

He was nicknamed ‘two Jags’ after it emerged he had two Jaguar cars.

But in 2021, he revealed he no longer had them after becoming increasingly interested in climate change.

Alongside him throughout was his wife of more than 60 years, Pauline, who stood by him after an affair with his secretary became public in 2006. He said later that he was struggling with the pressures of political life – and should have told her – and that their relationship improved when she accepted his apology for the betrayal.

He had lived an extraordinary life.

The young man who went to sea after failing his 11-plus, later became a trade unionist and indispensable figure in Sir Tony Blair‘s New Labour project.

His family said he had ‘spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment’.