Prescott defends quake response (BBC News)

Prescott’s on the defensive. And all because Mr Blair won’t cut his holiday short.

John Prescott is an absolute dream of a politician, at least as far as comedians go. He’s always angry. He desperately tries to sound sympathetic to the poor people in Asia, and yet comes across as livid as the questioner. And despite what he actually said in the interview, his body language and tone really seemed to suggest that he thought Mr Blair should have come home from Egypt. So all-in-all, it was something of a failure of an interview.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said he would have returned had he been in the same position. However, Mr Howard said Mr Blair’s decision was up to the prime minister.

Mr Howard, on the same programme, performed much better than in his rehashed article from this morning, handling the above question rather well, since he criticised the Prime Minister without explictly saying he was wrong. He toed the line, and he did it with great skill. Well done Mr Howard – I think you won this round.