I won't quit, says Prescott

British deputy prime minister John Prescott today declared that he had no intention of standing down.

Mr Prescott said that he was “very sorry” about the damage done to the British government by the disclosures earlier this year of his affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.

He strongly defended his contacts with the American billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is involved in plans to build a super casino at the ill-fated Millennium Dome, and denied any suggestion of improper influence.

He also said that he would not bow to pressure from the opposition Conservative Party and the media to quit over the issue.

“I will get on with doing my job and I am not leaving it, I am getting on with it,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He acknowledged however that the publicity he had attracted since the disclosure of his affair with Ms Temple had not helped the Government.

“I am very sorry for what has happened. I do believe in a way it’s not been good for my party or Government,” he said. “Of course I am conscious of that..

“All my life has been that, I have never had another job, I had never had a penny off anyone else, all I’ve done is this job

“But when I get involved, as I have been, in these incidents I am extremely sorry.”