John Prescott taking on Jeremy Clarkson and basically the whole Top Gear studio audience is a brilliant watch

Tributes have been paid today to John Prescott, deputy prime minister for 10 years under Tony Blair’s New Labour government, who has died aged 86.

Prescott was the keeper of traditional Labour values under Blair’s modernising leadership and we’ve rounded up a whole bunch of our favourite tributes here.

There have been no shortage of clips going viral on Twitter today – not all that punch, just most of them – and here is another that definitely deserves another look.

It’s Prescott appearing on Top Gear’s ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ when Jeremy Clarkson took him to task over the M4 bus lane introduced under his watch.

And Prescott magnificently took on Clarkson and basically the whole of the Top Gear studio audience and it’s a brilliant watch.

Here is just one moment …

One of the best stars in a reasonably priced car interviews too pic.twitter.com/BNHlWX7XCu

— Calgie (@christiancalgie) November 21, 2024

… but it really does pay to watch the whole thing, 10 minutes or so very well spent.

Reminded of Prescott’s hilarious appearance on Top Gear. Fearlessly goes up against the live audience to bat for the M4 bus lane. pic.twitter.com/7CiCSLTcEa

— max tempers (@maxtempers) November 21, 2024

Bravo, JP!

And’s just a bit of the love and admiration people had for the late, great Lord Prescott.

1.

Every single Labour front-bencher today would wither here. They’d start stuttering out some pre-prepared research lines written by some obnoxious 20-something, like a rabbit in the headlights, terrified of generating a bad headline, with all the charisma of a Thameslink… https://t.co/xtp7Mkd1sY

— Despotic Inroad (@DespoticInroad) November 21, 2024

2.

Whatever you think about politics this is such a joy to watch because it’s a politician – John Prescott – who believes in what he’s selling, taking on an audience largely hostile to his ideas and challenging their beliefs with his own well-founded arguments. It doesn’t matter who… https://t.co/gfwxBim0YH

— Kate McCann (@KateEMcCann) November 21, 2024

3.

i’ve met him when he came up to sunderland a few years back, you could see he was ‘slowing down a bit with age’ but he had such a aura about him. 15 minutes i will never forget, he was as funny af.

— john darko (@darko_john888) November 21, 2024

4.

My favourite bit of seeing John interact with people is it would always end with that uncanny smile. The difference with populist politicians who try and do this kind of thing is with JP it was 100% genuine, from the gut. And most of all, never about smashing someone else down. https://t.co/MxLYGZsvfO

— Jon Will Chambers (@jonwillchambers) November 21, 2024

5.

‘Thank you to those who cheered. And those who booed well you know what you can do.’

— Will (@theultimatebill) November 21, 2024

6.

John Prescott “Connecting with voters” 5:35
The whole interview is classic Prescott. We’ve lost a legend.https://t.co/FruacFyqq1

— Alan Hicks (@AlanHicksLondon) November 21, 2024

7.

What is interesting about this clip is even though he and @JeremyClarkson plainly disagree and the audience are largely with Clarkson there is none of the toxicity which is the legacy of Brexit, Johnson and 14 years of Tory chaos. We must re learn how to disagree without hatred

— Simon Redican (@SimonRedican) November 21, 2024

8.

Love watching him communicate, get his point across, a natural

— I G O R (@Igor_N_) November 21, 2024

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People have been paying tribute to Labour Titan John Prescott after his death at 86

Source @maxtempers