Prescott ex-lover’s revelations add to pressure on Blair

BRITISH deputy premier John Prescott faced renewed pressure over his conduct last night after his former secretary went public with lurid details of their two-year affair.

Tracey Temple’s intimate claims about sex in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Whitehall Office and his taxpayer-funded flat were published in the Mail on Sunday.

Mr Prescott hit back at his 43-year-old ex-lover — saying much of what she claimed was “simply untrue” and accusing her of spicing up her story to make money from it.

Admitting that he “acted stupidly”, he called for privacy while he tried to rebuild his marriage to wife Pauline.

The claims add to Tony Blair’s woes amid reports that he is facing a backbench ultimatum to set a timetable for his departure or face a leadership challenge if the party does badly in this week’s local elections.

A series of opinion polls yesterday showed Labour trailing badly ahead of Thursday’s crucial local elections.

Ms Temple told the paper that sexual encounters would take place in Mr Prescott’s office while as many as seven civil servants worked at their desks outside and claimed the door would be left open and the encounters would take place behind the desk but mainly behind the door.

“Anyone could walk in,” she added.

On other occasions sex took place in Mr Prescott’s taxpayer-funded flat in Admiralty House — once following an Iraq War Memorial Service at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The Sunday Telegraph said rebels would launch a challenge if the party loses around 300 seats in the English council polls or if it finishes third behind the Tories and Liberal Democrats in key areas of the country.

Mr Blair would have to announce a public timetable for his departure within 12 months or face the contest, the paper said.

The prime minister is expected to make his long-awaited reshuffle in the wake of the poll — with the future of Charles Clarke seemingly in the balance.

Mr Blair refused to guarantee the mistaken release of foreign prisoners — for which he said there were “no excuses” — would not cost the Home Secretary his job.

Downing Street insisted he had faith in his ally to put right the debacle but the premier told the News of the World Mr Clarke’s survival “depends on what happens”.

Three polls all spelled potential bad news for Labour.

A YouGov survey for the Sunday Times put it down three points to 32% — two points behind the Tories, with the Liberal Democrats on 18%.

A majority considered the Government “sleazy and incompetent” and Mr Blair’s personal rating plummeted to an all time low as leader — just a third believing he was doing well.

An ICM poll for the Sunday Express also put Labour behind the Tories, while in the Mail on Sunday, a BPIX survey of those certain to vote in the local elections gave the Tories a nine point lead by 35% to 26%.