FORMER deputy prime minister John Prescott wasn’t best pleased by the TV drama about his affair.
I spent an hour talking to John this week in his office at the House of Commons.
In a wide-ranging interview, I asked him about that affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple.
There’s a full feature on Pg 9 of today’s MEN – the online version is here.
John’s autobiography – Prezza. My Story: Pulling No Punches – is published today, ahead of a visit to Manchester next Monday.
It includes a chapter on the aftermath of his affair, and his reaction to last year’s ITV1 comedy drama Confessions Of A Diary Secretary.
Manchester-born Early Doors star John Henshaw played Prescott and former Shameless actress Maxine Peake took on the role of Tracey.

You can read more about that here and via the links at the bottom of this blog entry.
And here is part of what John Prescott has to say about it in his book:
“Then, of course, the final event in the saga was the TV drama documentary, about a year later, which started it all over again – this time adding a lot more fiction.
“I never watched it. I refused.
“But afterwards people told me about it, so I heard about the things that were completely made up.
“I never set Tracey up in a flat. I never made her cook a meal for Tony and Gordon.”

He adds: “The viewers wouldn’t know it was pure fiction.
“I told Pauline not to watch it – but she did.
“It was quite funny, I suppose.
“But it was still a humiliating experience for her.”
As ever, due to space restrictions I was only able to use around a quarter of our chat in today’s paper.
He also said during the interview that certain sections of the media wanted to portray politics as a soap opera.
With so many seemingly faceless politicians at Westminster, there’s a temptation to create “characters” – just as you might in Coronation Street or EastEnders.
“Everything has to be a crisis, exclusive scoops and all that.
“Your personal life gets covered in every kind of dot and detail.”
John blames the advent of 24 hour news, with the printed press looking for fresh angles to keep ahead.
“I think that leads them to concentrate a bit more on the celebrity aspects and exposures and things like that.
“But it can be highly personalised.
“And if there’s not a great deal of rapport between us, you become a villain.”
Confessions Of A Diary Secretary
Sex Scenes A Giggle Says Shameless Star
Odd Couple’s Cabinet Affair
Prezza Brought To Book