It was one of the most refreshing acts by a politician in a long, long time. I’d have done the same thing.
What Clinton did certainly looks better in the press. I saw clips of both incidents. Clinton looked like he had a substantial bodyguard detail. The egg thrower was farther away and was immediately tackled by security.
The deputy Prime Minister got hit hard at point blank range. It didn’t look like the DPM was debating whether or not his actions would look good in the press, if the person who assaulted him was in a wheelchair or a minority, or even if his actions were thuggery. He just reacted in a very human way to getting hit in the face. Fight or Flight? He chose fight.
It was nice to see someone ruffling Labour’s feathers, if only briefly. As a friend of mine said though more people are likely to vote for the big tit now he’s shown himself to be more “human.”
Fair enough he was pelted by an egg at fairly close range and I’d like to think I’d be able to get such a nice jab in if someone tried something similar on me but then I’m not in John Prescott’s position. I’m not supposed to be in a position of high responsibility, I’m not a member of a government that swoops down from ahigh on football holigans for tarnishing the UK’s image abroad, I don’t travel round with a police escort and I’m not from a party that crows about being “tough on crime tough on the causes of crime.”
One of the most important lessons I learnt while attending JuiJitsu lessons was that the law takes a funny line on self defence and heat of the moment or not, a punch in the face was hardly proportional. Maybe the PM could take Prescotts line and punch that lady again if she dares to complain about the substandard treatment her husband recived on the NHS. I’m sure the law wouldn’t be lenient on me if I tried the same.
His fighting style looked more barroom brawl-ish to me.
There is some speculation that the protester was there trying to gain attention for the countryside lobby group, pro hunting with dogs.
He is connected to the Countryside alliance according to The Independant on Sunday.
It appears that the press had already been informed some form of protest was going to occur.
This means that it was not a protest on the spur of the moment full of passion bursting over but a cynical premeditated assault.
The protester is asking up to £20K for his story.
Puts a slightly differant complexion on things, and yes I am aware of spin and damage limitation PR.
Mr Evans, for that is the protesters name, is linked to the Welsh Countryside aliance regional director
I don’t think it’s ideal, but I really can’t blame Prescott for what he did. The incident differed significantly from most of the recent egg/paint/flour/tomato throwing incidents in that they were in a confined space (between a wall and a railing), at close quarters and the egg hit him pretty hard. He was already aware that he would have to push through a hostile crowd to get to his destionation and there appeared to be only one policeman present. The other guy was bigger (or at least taller), younger and presumably fitter than him.
I sincerely doubt that he knew what was happening–other than that something had hit him in the head–by the time he punched the guy. You can’t call somebody’s political judgement into question on the basis of his split-second reaction in a situation like that. Anybody remember Nick Brown’s reaction when that woman pushed a chocolate eclair in his face? He was clearly badly shaken, not because he had had a cake pushed in his face, but because, for a few seconds, he didn’t know what had been pushed in his face.
Bear in mind that it’s not that long since an MP was seriously injured, and one of his party workers was killed, when he was attacked by a knife-weilding maniac in his consituency
Prescott doesn’t (or didn’t at the time) have Special Branch protection. I believe that only the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition during an election campaign, and people who have been identified as specific terrorist targets (including current and past NI Ministers) have bodyguards. Your average Cabinet Minister, even the DPM, does not. If he’d pulled a gun, or even a knife, no doubt Prescott–like Nigel Jones–could have been killed or seriously injured.
Then again, no doubt Blair, being a two-faced, sanctimonious git, will use this to brief against him when he wants him out of the Cabinet.
He was an amateur boxer while he was in the merchant navy.