Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has died aged 86 following a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family has announced.<br />His family said he had “spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment”.<br /><br />The former trade union activist and ex-merchant seaman died “peacefully” and surrounded by relatives at his care home, they said.<br /> Lord Prescott was a key figure of Sir Tony Blair’s New Labour project, seen by many as custodian of the party’s traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership.
