LONDON — John Prescott, the pugnacious deputy prime minister to Britain's Tony Blair during his 10 years in government, has died aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer's, his family said on Thursday (Nov 21).

Prescott, who served under Blair from 1997 to 2007, was known as a plain-speaking politician who bridged the divide between the traditional left-wing and the modernisers in the Labour Party.

"There was no one quite like him in British politics," Blair told BBC radio. "I don't think, to be honest, I'd ever met anyone quite like John, and I still don't think I've ever met anyone quite like him, and I'm very sad that he's passed."

Dubbed an old-school political "bruiser" and a proud trade unionist, he famously punched a member of the public during an election campaign in 2001, after he had been pelted with an egg.

"I was just thinking this morning about the time ... when someone smashed an egg on his head and he turned around and he punched the guy and laid him out ... There were no rules that he really abided by," Blair said.

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