Prescott: Brown is 'global giant'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/8267420.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Former deputy PM John Prescott has said the prime minister is a "global giant" who can win the next election.

He said "everybody" outside the UK believed Gordon Brown had "turned this global economy round" and dismissed his opposition rivals as "pygmies".

Mr Prescott said the PM was "the best man in the field for the job" and could get global agreements on big issues.

Opinion polls suggest the Tories have had a double figure lead over Labour since the start of the year.

But Mr Prescott told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Labour had a 16-point lead a week before the 1970 general election - only to lose to the Conservatives.

"So don't give too much attention to the polls - although don't totally ignore them," he said.

"Gordon Brown is still the guy who turned this global economy round, everybody credits him with that, except here in the UK.

"There are two fundamental issues we're facing, climate change and global finance. Both require global agreement, he's the best man in the field for the job."

"These are global problems, you need global giants, not the pygmies I hear about," he said.

He also dismissed Lib Dem claims to be replacing Labour as the main progressive party: "It's all yak before conferences: 'Go home and prepare for government', I mean, we have that every year from them."

"At the end of the day they are not going to be the next government, I believe it will be a Labour government - and we'll just listen to all the talk until the election."