Was John Prescott a 'tenant from hell'?

A Freedom of Information request by the Conservatives has discovered that it cost £3,320 to deep clean the three bedroom Admiralty House flat that John Prescott enjoyed when he was Deputy Prime Minister.  You may remember that it was the flat on which he failed to pay council tax.

Eric Pickles MP has written to the Cabinet Secretary suggesting that John Prescott repay the money if he hadn't adequately maintained the property:

"I observe that it is standard precedent for the occupiers of official ministerial residences to pay for the routine costs of cleaning their property. I am concerned over the excessive cost of this deep clean - compared to commercial quotes of £210. This raises questions over the routine maintenance that the flat has received, and whether the cost of deeply cleaning the flat is higher than if the flat had been regularly cleaned to a high standard by the occupier... I wish to request that you conduct an investigation into the appropriateness of this expenditure, and why the cost of cleaning was so high. If you find that the property was not properly maintained, I would submit that the former Deputy Prime Minister should be billed for the cleaning bill, to avoid the cost falling to the public purse. I note that Mr Prescott has already been forced to pay back the cost of unpaid council tax on the property, so there is a clear precedent for retrospective payments by Ministers."

Comments

[Umbrella man]

The real scandal is it cost more than £3,000 if a commercial quote suggests it could have been done for £210.

[johnC]

This reminds me of George Bush's comment that if elected he would give the Oval office a good scrubbing.

I hate to think what Prescott's cleaners had to contend with.

[John F Aberdeen]

Prescott and the rest of the socialist cabal prove the wise saying "you can take the man out of the gutter but you can,t take the gutter out of the man"
I remember the cartoon of Prescott sitting on the toilet, wiping himself with the Union Jack,, I think it was in the Spectator. Unfortunately over the past 11 years thats exactly what they,ve done to the country.
Blair was good in that he masked their snarling faces, the masks however have been slipping off since Brown took over,, witness Balls "so what" on budget day,, the ignorant class hating attacks on Boris, Dave etal by Blears, Harman etc,, heartily endorsed by the head class hating Bottler Brown.
The 16% lead in the polls today plus the 25% lead in London shows that the scales have finally fallen from peoples eyes.
On the tax question,, yes like many other tories I want to see it cut, however reading between the lines of what Dave George etc are saying I think the public finances are in a much bigger mess than we realise, so it makes sense for them not to promise what they may not be able to deliver.
Given Browns record for cheating, stealth and what could be lamely described as "false accounting" who knows how big a mess there is and, unless they get turfed out soon,, they have more opportunity to make it a bigger mess plus, I think they would intentionally do as much damage as possible if they believed the Tory party was going to be elected at the next General Election.
BTW good on Dave for showing his family on ITV,, I hear the BBC are miffed,, tough ,, our fight is against Labour and those who support Labour,, like the BBC so lets keep them frozen out.

[Prescott is not in the cabinet anymore]

But Mr Prescott is not even in the cabinet anymore Whyd oes this matter for politics.

[David Parker]

Poor old John Prescott, he just can't win can he?
First od all he is accused of having a scrubber, now it seems that he hasn't had enough of them!

[Helen Wright]

John Prescott and his family are known as the prescott Mafia in and around Hull. Appropriately, his house in Hull was bought from council at a knock down price and was previously a home for unmarried mothers.
His son bought dozens of cheap houses from the same council (Prescott's Hull) and sold them on for very tidy profit.
The unions pushed for Prescott to be the Hull MP, even though Prescott had never been to Hull and is in fact, Welsh.
The character of Hull is the same as that of all Labour voters in Hull. He is a mirror image. And that is why Hull is a dump and always will be.

[G Clarke]

Maybe it was all the empty bottles of Bollinger champagne, fish and chip papers and Pizza boxes that had been chucked over the back of the sofa. Champagne Socialists -'Deep Clean' probably means using Harpic... 'Clean Round the Bend!'

[Old Hack]

You when JP has been for a visit...

The lavatory hasn't been flushed and the cat is pregnant

[Larry]

Prescott may well be out of the mainstream right now, BUT the question we should all pursue with evangelistic fervour is: if it was considered appropriate to have had that crass oaf John Prescott as DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, just what the hell does that tell us about the Labour Party and their lack respect for UK?? I cannot imagine any other country on the face of this earth allowing such an illiterate, ignorant and uncultured being to gain a position where they can even pretend to represent an entire country. If the British people don't wake up to the fact right now that Labour want to wrestle the UK from its own inhabitants, then I really don't know what will focus their attention. Ever since that other (mendacious & smiling) little twerp entered number 10 on May 2nd 1997, the Labour Party has had the thinly disguised agenda of dismantling Great Britain. Look at how they all bow and scrape to the European Parliament: it is sickening! We are even told who we can employ here, what size light bulbs we can use, what colour our houses have to be. I do NOT remember voting for all this Boolean all those years ago when I wanted to join the COMMON MARKET - you remember it - free trading. I never ever ever sanctioned becoming so closely involved with Europe that we lose control over our own country and destiny. I want to see the next government change totally our relationship with Brussels: no ifs, no buts, no listening to wailing money men, just do it! This is the will of the vast majority. Please LISTEN to what we want, thank you.....