Does John Prescott support the Equalities Bill?

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

John Prescott has weighed in on Harriet Harman’s criticisms of men-only leadership in her interview with today’s Sunday Times.

In a contradictory little strop, Prescott has a go at Harriet for:

“raising leadership issues once again just at a time when we should all be pullng together and defending our record… success doesn’t come from saying all male leaderships are bad and trying to change the party rules to ban all male leaderships.”

But in picking on one small quote from a long and interesting interview on a range of different issues, what John neglects to consider is that Harriet was speaking in theoretical terms: she, as a woman, is the deputy leader, and she thinks it’s right that in the future a double ticket should always reflect that this world is made up of both men and women.

Are Harriet’s headlines a challenge to Gordon Brown’s authority? Of course not. Rather, Harriet Harman’s time as “shop-keeper” while the PM is on holiday is a great opportunity to talk about issues she cares about and issues at the heart of what it means to be Labour. Good on her for raising this debate.

John continues to say that:

“Why take away from the party the right to choose its leaders on the basis of ability? You can’t dictate equality.”

It sounds, John, as if you’re having a stab at the Equalities Bill. It sounds as if you, too, need to practice what you preach and think more carefully about defending Labour’s policies. Yes, Labour ministers such as Harriet Harman need to be out campaigning on our vision and policies for a fairer Britain. But too often, that vision has been too policy-lite. What Harriet did today was articulate some of her vision and some of the bold and radical policies we need.

I’d’ve thought people like Prescott would support that.