The son of former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott has joined the Green Party.
David Prescott, who also tried to become a Labour MP, is thought to have become a member of Zack Polanski’s party last October, a year after his father died.
A post on Facebook shows him alongside Green activists in Gorton and Denton, the constituency where the party won a key Commons by-election last week.
Alongside the photo, Mr Polanski wrote: “On the day we hit 200,000 members of the Green Party – really delighted to welcome David Prescott.”
His father, John Prescott, served as deputy prime minister for a decade and was a key part of Tony Blair’s government.
Karl Turner, who succeeded the late Mr Prescott as the Labour MP for Hull East in the 2010 general election, said the defection was “hugely disappointing” but “no surprise”.
“David was born into the Labour Party and, like myself, he was from a rock-solid socialist and trade union family,” he told Sky News.
“Again, like myself, David was politically active from a very young age. David was always his own man, not his old man.”
However, he added: “I suspect John Prescott would be furious if he was around today.
“But his anger would be aimed at the Labour Party for allowing progressive voters to leave Labour and go to what they see as a left-wing, more progressive alternative to the party he worked all of his adult life to elect into government, to change the lives of the many, not the few, for the better.”
A humiliating by-election defeat in Gorton and Denton saw Labour finish third behind Nigel Farage’s Reform and the victorious Greens.
The prime minister has vowed to “keep on fighting” and refused to be drawn on speculation about his future after his party failed to hold a constituency considered one of Labour’s safest.
But furious backbenchers have cast doubt over his ability to lead the country and steer the party to success in the polls, telling The Independent that it is now “just a question of when, not if” he stands down.
Sir Keir’s woes deepened earlier this week when a new poll showed the Greens had overtaken Labour to become the second most popular party.
In the wake of the sensational by-election win, Mr Polanski’s party saw its support jump by four points to 21 per cent, while Labour and the Tories were tied on 16 per cent – both down two points, the lowest Labour score on record.
Out in front was Reform UK, on 23 per cent – down one point, while the Liberal Democrats remained unchanged on 14 per cent, according to the poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News on Sunday and Monday.
David Prescott stood to be a Labour MP in Gainsborough in the 2015 general election, but lost to the Conservatives’ Edward Leigh.
In 2017, while serving as a key member of Jeremy Corbyn’s team, he was temporarily suspended from the role after the party received allegations against him. He denied the claims and Labour later said no formal complaint was made.
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