Good news for everyone except Mr Chu: the post-Prescott era dawns at last

On Wednesday, when John Prescott finally steps down as Deputy Prime Minister, the city of Hull will breathe a collective sigh of relief. Just as Joseph Chamberlain defined Birmingham in the 1870s, so Prezza personified Hull for the past decade. Chamberlain built a great industrial city — but Prescott has reduced this proud, historic port, whose eastern parliamentary constituency he has held since 1970, to something approaching a national laughing stock. It seems unlikely, for example, that Hull would have been named the ‘crappest’ of Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK, by Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran, had Prescott not lived there. And I fear that the jokes about the proximity of Hull and hell would not have gained such currency had Prescott led a blameless life of public service. So it’s fitting that Prescott’s legacy is a Liberal Democrat council in what had for so long been a socialist heartland.