I no longer keep the coal in the bath. I keep it in the bidet – Prescott quotes

Lord Prescott sometimes found himself in hot water for the things he said, much to the amusement of those around him.

Following news of his death, BBC Radio 4’s Today host Nick Robinson shared an anecdote of the former deputy prime minister.

He said: “Prescott once stumbled in an interview with me, getting confused about what he was trying to say.

“‘Oh I made that crap,’ he said, ‘can we go again?’ My reply, ‘We are – in fact – live, deputy prime minister’.

“At the end of the interview, we both laughed so much it hurt.”

Away from the cameras, Lord Prescott faced his own personal battles and in 2008 admitted to having the eating disorder bulimia.

He said his decision to write about it had been an easy one because he wanted to help raise awareness of the condition.

Asked whether bulimia was something that never completely went away, Lord Prescott said: “We’ve got to bring it out openly. You’re absolutely right, there is a temptation and you guard against it.

“It’s a bit like alcohol. You can finish being an alcoholic. But if you go back to drinking more and more alcohol, you will become alcoholic again.

“So it does require a discipline, and not believe that you take a pill and you’re cured.”

Here are some more of Lord Prescott’s more memorable quotes:

– “I’ve been stupid” – After his affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple was disclosed. Of the affair, she said: “We were both busy with our jobs but we sometimes managed to squeeze in sex.”

– “I have quite fundamental disagreements with Tony Blair” – June 1994.

– “I am afraid of being rejected, of being put down” – Interview, The Sunday Telegraph, 1994.

– “To be fair, you were either with Neil Kinnock or against him. Same with me. So we were against each other” – Interview in Esquire, 1994.

– “Did they find any syntax?” – After a routine brain scan following a minor road accident in 1996.

– “I always have a problem with my face. I have to live with it” – April 1996.

– “Here we have a Government disintegrating between our eyes” – 1997, on the John Major administration.

– “They are gnats on an elephant’s backside” – On Labour’s spin doctors during the 1997 general election campaign.

– “I have changed. I no longer keep the coal in the bath. I keep it in the bidet” – When he announced that he had joined the middle classes.

– “If present trends continue we will soon need a motorway, 150 lanes wide, between London and Leeds” – As Transport Secretary.

– “My position is that I want to make our position clear, the example in Germany is just one example, for example” – As Environment Secretary (1997-2001).

– “During the election, I met this chap who said, ‘you’ve got to help me John. I’ve never had sex under a Labour Government’. If you are listening, mate, I hope the first 100 days were good for you” – October 1997.

– “You are a terrible man for asking the questions and not giving an answer” – To BBC interviewer, Edward Stourton, October 2002.

– “It is not the sanity of the picket lines that bothers me. It’s the sanity of human life” – November 2002.

– “Clare Short said the Government is good in its substance, and then goes on to say presentation is crummily and lousy. Well, what do you want?” – December 2002.

– “Let us never forget our heritage or our roots” – Durham Miners’ Gala, 1999.

– “I saw in the paper today, how many transport ministers, Barbara Castle, they said, was popular; when Barbara Castle brought in seat belts and drunk driving, she was very unpopular” – When Transport Secretary (1997-2001).