DONALD MACINTYRE Political Editor John Prescott’s tour de force yesterday looks very much like becoming an annual star turn at the

DONALD MACINTYRE

Political Editor
John Prescott’s tour de force yesterday looks very much like becoming an annual star turn at the Labour conference; but that very star turn only underlines the perpetual fascination with the deputy leader’s role and what it will be if Labour wins power. And once in power will he become something of a Michael Heseltine, ranging widely in ensuring Labour meets its policy goals; or will he have his own department?It would be a surprise if the ride had been completely smooth in the 16 months since they were both elected and it hasn’t. Mr Prescott was, to say the least, taken aback when the leader told him he was going to replace Clause IV – though when he was won round he was one of those who worked hardest to help secure the change.For all the warm words that were found to explain away his absence from the strategy meeting convened at the home of the pro-Labour advertising man, Chris Powell, in March, Mr Prescott was understandably pretty annoyed not to be there at the time. He let his dismay show, when after Mr Blair’s Clause IV triumph, the leader promised that the transformation of the party, including the further reduction in the block vote, would continue; worrying as much, perhaps, about the presentation of this as about the content, he gave a television interview in which he made a pointed remark about the need to be magnanimous in victory.And finally, his exclusion from the circulation list of the Philip Gould memo was yet another aggravation. It is the only paper that still grovels to Tory Central Office.” In another unscripted manoeuvre, Mr Prescott, accompanied by his wife, Pauline, followed up his speech by personally delivering Mr Craig a second pork pie, complete with a blue label, reading “Tory Party Pork Pie”, in the press room.The article claimed Mr Prescott was furious that Peter Mandelson, MP for Hartlepool and a close colleague of Mr Blair, was to be interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme instead of him.Mr Craig said: “We stand by our story 100 per cent John Prescott says one thing in public. It is up to them to address anything which we perceive can affect their customers’ behaviour.

What we are doing is more of a service than an enforcement measure,” he said.The five officers taking part in the survey arrive at pubs at about 8.30pm and keep them under observation until closing time But not all the town’s landlords have welcomed the scheme. Keith Macauley-Fraser, who runs the Hogshead, said supermarket-style queueing systems would never work in the atmosphere of a pub.. PATRICIA WYNN DAVIES

Political Correspondent
John Prescott, Labour’s deputy leader, yesterday celebrated the “best conference I can ever remember”, delighting delegates with a lively mixture of humour and rallying oratory.In a novel use of props, Mr Prescott flourished a pork pie (rhyming slang for lie) as he attacked a Daily Express article claiming he was “spitting blood” at another snub by Tony Blair and his inner circle.Departing from the text to challenge John Craig, the paper’s political editor, to apologise, Mr Prescott declared: “There are lies, damned lies and the Daily Express. Lighting at bars is also important because if it is harsh and bright it makes people’s features look harder and that also increases tension.”We are not telling licensees how to run their pubs What we do is give them a report on our findings. You are looking for the shortest queue and making calculations about which one will get through first. People get wound up in these circumstances and their temperature goes up.”If you transfer that situation to a bar in a pub, you are in a queue which is not easily defined.

You know precisely where you are in the order, but the important question is: does the person at the bar know?”People being served out of order could lead to tension which might boil up to violence and disorder on the streets outside, he warned. “When you queue in a supermarket you are in competition with everyone else there. He said one priority for licensees was to ensure that customers are served in the proper order at busy times. The aim is to spot problem areas that could make customers bad-tempered and more likely to get involved in disorderly incidents.
Constable Tony Marsh, of Cheltenham police’s licensing department, sends written reports to licensees advising them how to improve the pub’s environment.

Undercover police are spying on a town centre’s pubs in an attempt to prevent potential incidents of “bar rage”. Plain- clothes officers are studying the standards of service, decor and lighting in 30 of Cheltenham’s busiest pubs – and also checking whether drinkers are served in the right order. But what I would say is that it is sad that this is being timed for the Conservative Party conference. We have real problems in the borough,” he said.Lambeth said its GCSE results were improving and that a study had found its schools performing better.. A special education committee meeting in Lambeth next Friday will discuss the report.Nationally, only 2.5 per cent of the 4,500 schools inspected since the system was introduced two years ago have failed.When special measures are ordered, the school and its local authority must produce an action plan and prove that substantial improvements have taken place as a result. If they cannot do so, an “education association” can be sent in to take over the school and it can be forced to become grant- maintained.Mike Tuffrey, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, which has an equal number of councillors with Labour on the hung Waltham Forest council, welcomed the move.”We are trying to see this positively because we have 20 years of mismanagement to redress. They discovered that teachers had failed to notice when one child did not speak for three years, and said conditions at the school were some of the worst they had seen.