Angry Prescott denies casino wrongdoing
Thursday, 06 Jul 2006 19:49
Angry Prescott denies casino wrongdoing
An angry John Prescott has hit back at what he calls a "media storm" against him and categorically denied any wrongdoing over the Millennium Dome casino furore.
In a heated exchange with the BBC's John Humphrys on the Today programme this morning the deputy prime minister adamantly refused to resign over the latest attack on him.
Mr Prescott has come under fire for not declaring seven visits to the ranch of American businessman Philip Anschutz, who wants to turn the Millennium Dome into Britain's first supercasino, on the Commons' register of members' interests.
The deputy prime minister yesterday relented and decided to register the visits, but the heat has not lessened with both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats still demanding an investigation.
And the Committee on Standards in Public Life, parliament's standards watchdog, has revealed today that it will be launching a full investigation into the allegations.
But today, Mr Prescott insisted that his meetings with Mr Anschutz, whose company Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) owns the Dome, was not a conflict of interest and will not lead to his resignation.
"I'll get on with my job, and people must judge me on what I'm doing. I'm not leaving it, I'm getting on with it," he said.
Mr Prescott's position appeared to deteriorate today with the publication of government documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, suggesting that AEG considered the development of a casino on the troubled south-east London site was a "key plank" of their business plan.
The documents revealed an official at Mr Prescott's department in 2003 had noted that AEG "had worked up its business plan and a casino was now a central feature" but Mr Prescott denied being involved in any such discussion during his visits.
"These [minutes] reflect a getting together of officials…they didn't say I was involved, I wasn't at all," he said.
"It's quite normal under all government that you can separate the secretary of state from these decisions, because they are inevitably talking with people," he said.
On the suggestion that his department may have exerted its influence on other bidders for the Dome to clear the way for AEG, he added: "In no way did I express an opinion…I was not involved, I'm very clear about that."
Liberal Democrat spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport, Don Foster, remained unmoved, however, telling the BBC: "We now have a document that shows not only is [Mr Prescott] asking for detailed information about the development of the policy, but, very worryingly, interest in a particular individual with a particular casino development, and that’s the most damaging thing of all."
The latest row follows a tumultuous time for Mr Prescott after he was stripped of his departmental responsibilities in May following the disclosure that he had had an affair with his diary secretary.
He was then forced to give up his grace-and-favour country mansion after he was photographed playing croquet there while standing in for the prime minister, who had gone on holiday.