Britain’s scandal-hit deputy prime minister insisted on Thursday he is not going to resign, despite a growing furore over his links with a United States gambling tycoon bidding to set up a casino in London.
John Prescott, who lost much of his credibility in April after owning up to an extra-marital affair with a secretary, also tried to distance himself from rumours circulating on the internet of other flings.
The latest controversy comes at a bad time for the minister because he is due to assume responsibility for running the country towards the end of the month while Prime Minister Tony Blair goes on holiday.
Prescott defended his contacts with US billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is involved in plans to build a super-casino at the Millennium Dome, in Greenwich, south-east London — acquired by the Anschutz Entertainment Group in 2002.
He also denied any suggestion of improper influence after revealing earlier this week that he had met seven times with Anschutz, culminating in a stay at the tycoon’s ranch in Colorado.
Speaking publicly for the first time since questions first started being asked about his Anschutz meetings, Blair’s number two vowed not to bow to pressure from the main opposition Conservatives and the media to quit.
”I will get on with doing my job and I am not leaving it, I am getting on with it,” he told the BBC radio, banging the studio furniture during the interview.
At the same time, Prescott acknowledged that the disclosure of his affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple — 24 years his junior — had generated bad publicity for the governing Labour Party and the government itself.
”I am very sorry for what has happened. I do believe in a way it’s not been good for my party or government. Of course I am conscious of that,” he said.
”All my life has been that, I have never had another job, I had never had a penny off anyone else. All I’ve done is this job, but when I get involved, as I have been, in these incidents, I am extremely sorry.” — AFP
