John Prescott, British former deputy prime minister, dies aged 86

John Prescott, the former British deputy prime minister and stalwart of the New Labour movement, has died aged 86.Tony Blair and Gordon Brown led tributes on Thursday to Prescott, who had Alzheimer’s, after his family announced he had died peacefully at a care home.“He was one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics,” Blair told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “One of the most committed and loyal, and definitely the most unusual … There were no rules he really abided by.”Prescott served as deputy prime minister for more than a decade under Blair, and was seen as a custodian of the Labour party’s traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership

Labour’s new public bodies are likely to come at a high cost, thinktank finds

Labour is creating or overhauling at least 17 public bodies, a move which is likely to come with high costs, an Institute for Government report has found.Launching a new “tracker” of public bodies, the thinktank warned of some of the pitfalls when setting up government agencies from scratch, saying: “Successfully creating a new public body is difficult and entails high fixed costs in terms of time, budget and leadership focus.”The Institute for Government found the price tag of creating a new government department can be £15m in set-up costs, plus £34m in lost productivity.It said while public bodies were rarely on the same scale as departments, creating them can be more costly, such as when they need to be “set up from scratch rather than refitting existing space and integrating existing systems”.Matthew Gill, the author of the IfG report, said: “Public bodies – from the National Wealth Fund to the National Care Service – will be central to the Labour government’s success

Defence secretary announces scrapping of £500m of vessels and drones to cut costs

The defence secretary, John Healey, has announced he will scrap British navy vessels and army drones as part of £500m in cost-saving measures in what was described as a “black day” for the new government.Two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and two support tankers will be decommissioned, with the savings reinvested into the defence budget. Healey blamed the move on a “dire inheritance” left by the previous Tory administration.The announcement was described by the shadow defence secretary, James Cartlidge, as “cuts instead of a pathway to 2.5%” and “a black day for the Royal Marines”

Kemi’s Tories Haven’t Got Talent show fields A N Other at PMQs

Alas, poor Olive! I knew him, Horatio. This should have been Oliver Dowden’s day, his chance to shine. The half-hour when he stepped out of the shadows into glorious sunlight. When the Tory party put aside its differences with one another and cheered him unconditionally. Laughed at his jokes

Nigel Farage excluded from farmer rally speakers amid fears over Brexit role

Nigel Farage was left out of the line-up of political leaders who spoke at the farmers’ protest outside Downing Street, amid concerns over his divisive role in Brexit and fears he would overshadow the event.Representatives of all parties were originally invited to speak, according to organisers of a protest at which tens of thousands of farmers listened to Kemi Badenoch, Ed Davey and other speakers, including the journalist Jeremy Clarkson.However, the Guardian understands that while the Reform UK leader was initially considered, organisers omitted him from the line-up because they did not want the protest to become the “Nigel Farage show”.Farmers wanted the event to be as unpolitical as possible because they wanted to give the Labour government a chance to change its mind on the highly unpopular changes to inheritance tax that mean farmers with assets over £1m will be subject to a 20% levy.They were also concerned Farage’s presence would be divisive, after Brexit resulted in trade deals with Australia and New Zealand that undercut farmers, and cuts to subsidies

Tories say Labour is weakening national security with plan to decommission drones, warships and helicopters – as it happened

James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused the government of undermining national security with the defence cuts announced today. (See 3.10pm.)Responding to John Healey in the Commons, Cartlidge said:Whatever the chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security