Former deputy prime minister refuses to rule himself out as a possible candidate in the Humberside election
Having famously punched a protester who tried to assault him with an egg, Lord Prescott's views on tackling crime could best be described as robust. But the political bruiser may want to take a more nuanced approach if he decides to enter the running to become one of Britain's first elected police commissioners.
If Prescott was to run as police commissioner for his native Humberside, a region that covers east Yorkshire as well as north and north-east Lincolnshire, his campaign risks hijacking one of the Conservatives' flagship initiatives. The Tories have made the election of accountable police chiefs one of their priorities. The fact a Labour heavyweight would become the face of the elections, which will be held in the autumn, is a potential embarrassment for them.
Interviewed by the Observer, Prescott declined to comment on whether he would run in the elections. However, he said the phone-hacking scandal suggested the police needed to be subjected to new scrutiny.
"I think this is one of the most interesting questions being posed for us now in the area of police accountability and social policy," he said. "The commissioners are going to be people who have some influence and I can't help but feel the personalities of the individuals will be important. I think it will be a challenge. The question is what would the public say about particular individuals who were looking to stand. Given it's an election that many of the electorate don't think is important, being known may well be a plus."
Prescott is awaiting the results of a judicial review of the Metropolitan police investigation into concerns his phone was hacked by people acting on behalf of the defunct News of the World newspaper. The Met dismissed Prescott's concerns in 2006, but last week he received a £40,000 payout from Rupert Murdoch's News Group, the subsidiary that owned the disgraced title.
"I want to hear the judicial review and then that might be a time to say how I think all these things are connected," Prescott said. "It [the review] was never about the money; my main concern was to get the police to admit they had not carried out their responsibilities."
Prescott's own crime-fighting behaviour would inevitably come under scrutiny if he were to stand. In 2001, he punched Craig Evans, a farm worker who threw an egg at him during an election campaign visit to north Wales. Prescott said many people were alarmed by Evans's yobbish behaviour and were sympathetic to how he reacted.
"When the fella with the egg hit me and I responded … people came up to me in support … [but] direct justice was not the best way of dealing with it," he said.
Prescott, who would have to submit his candidacy to the Labour party by Valentine's Day, is standing down from his roles investigating human rights abuses for the Council of Europe and campaigning against climate change. He would possibly welcome an opportunity to focus his energies on his native north-east where he has been an MP for the past four decades. However, winning the vote to oversee the Humberside force, which has a £1.4bn budget and boasts more than 2,000 officers, is a challenge. The majority of voters there supported coalition MPs at the last election.
Another Labour big hitter has already announced his intention to run as a police commissioner. Alun Michael, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth since 1987 – and formerly the first Labour leader of the Welsh assembly – is standing in south Wales.
The commissioners will have to tackle rising crime as some 16,000 police positions are cut. Alongside chief constables, they will agree their force's five-year crime-and-policing plans, allocate budgets and establish spending priorities, leading to claims they will effectively become regional home secretaries.
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