Get to Bolton West - their organisation is crap!

I met John Prescott today. Me and James felt it our duty to attend the Young Labour 'Big' Weekend at the Town Hall - being heavily involved party members and all (!) Seriously though, we had intended to go to the Saturday session but plans dictated otherwise. James Purnell (Work and Pensions and future party leader???) was on the bill as well as Hazel 'I'm nuts about her' Blears (Local Government).

I've met Ms. Blears before - whilst researching for my dissertation at her Constituency Office in Salford. Having finished my days graft I went into a local post office for a Mars bar and there she was again, attending a photocall with the proprietor (my flatmate Christian says that at a recent Law event he overheard her saying that she only wanted to be photographed with ethinc minorities - hence his distaste for her). Anyway, said photocall was blocking my entry to the Post Office and Hazel said to the owner "Look at me, I'm stopping all of your customers". Now, if I'd had a bit more nous I would have retorted "well if you're referring to the government's Post Office privatisation program then you're jolly right!"

The future of the Post Office came up during the Q&A section at the end of John Prescott's speech. Leaving that aside, James and I scored a journalistic 'coup' by finally getting to the bottom of how the former DPM managed to get the nickname 'two-jags'. As he was shaking hands with the 50 or so Young Labour delegates (I will never wash my hand again), James brought up the fact that they both had a mutual friend (I forget his name but he works in regeneration). It turns out that it was this chap who provided Prescott with his jags in the 1990s when Michael Heseltine had said that the perk was for the benefit of the Prime Minister only.

The press girl sitting opposite won't have picked up on this little nugget from James' brief but life affirming conversation with the former DPM. However, she DID pick up on Prescott's admission that party organisation in the constituency of Bolton West was 'crap' and that's why we needed to board the 'battle bus' immediately (James and I forewent such pleasures in order to have Sunday lunch in Katsouris)-Nevertheless I must say that I found Prescott to be an entertaining speaker, despite being one who often gets mixed up in his own words. Not many politicians will use words such as 'bloody' and 'bugger' in a speech to the party faithfull - these are qualities which will make Prescott a memorable politician when he finally steps down as an MP at the next election. I don't know what the young female journalist was noting down, however what I would say is that Prescott is the type of politician the likes of which we seldom see in this country. He is a man who can truly connect with the electorate. For a man of nearly 70 he is proving this once again by his grasp of the potential for technology and internet social networking to reinvigorate party organisation and electioneering. Overall, he is an 'everyman' - a bridge between 'The People' and the 'Establishment', the likes of which the younger generation is yet to produce.