NEED a comedian to brighten up your dull industry dinner or meeting?
If the answer is yes, get on the phone to the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Ask for a Mr Prescott and you are assured of a fun-packed evening.
The deputy prime minister was the celebrity star at the Airport Operators’ Association dinner last week – and boy did they love him.
You would think a room full of natural Tory-voting middle-aged men in suits would sneer at Prescott, but no.
They loved his usual crack about once being a waiter on ships and knowing full well what goes on in the kitchens of hotels.
The staff at the evening’s venue at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in west London may not have loved him as he grinned knowingly at the food.
Prescott joked about his role in Government, describing it as better than working for a living and poked fun at those who say his department is too big. Sadly, his speech was far too brief as the realities of Government forced Prescott to scurry back to the House of Commons for a crucial vote.
He left the audience disappointed though as he said a call for a colleague to follow his speech had been scuttled.
“I thought I would ask Ken Livingstone to step in for me but I realised it would cost me so I have thought again,” he joked.