Sam Coates’s blog about Westminster, politics and spin

The end of the Prescott era in Hull was in sight last night after his son and chief of staff both lost out to a local barrister in the fight to succeed him as the Labour candidate in the seat he represented for 38 years.

After a bitter contest in which Mr Prescott’s son, David Prescott, alleged that he had been smeared by his Labour enemies, Karl Turner, 37, was selected for Hull East after four rounds of voting.

The break with the past was underlined by Della Georgiason, Mr Prescott Sr’s chief of staff, being among the defeated candidates in yesterday’s run-off at the Freedom Centre in Hull.

The verdict was a disappointment for the Prescott family, who had hoped that Mr Prescott Jr might be able to succeed his father, who is standing down at the next election.

But David Prescott found himself the victim of a whispering campaign in Labour circles with some unfriendly MPs accusing him of trading on his father’s name and others suggesting that it was bad for the party’s image to be seen to be handing a parliamentary seat from father to son.

Mr Prescott, who worked as a newspaper and television journalist before becoming a lobbyist, spoke this month of “vested interests out there who don’t want me to progress”.

One Labour official had said of Mr Prescott: “With the best will in the world it is hard to argue that David Prescott would have a chance of winning the Hull East selection if he were not John’s son. It looks bad when we are attacking David Cameron’s Tories as the party of privilege.”

A family friend said: “David is a good lad and his father dotes on him. He was so committed to his trade union and political career when his children were growing up that he wants to give them all the support he can now.”

But the party opted for another local man. Mr Turner was brought up in the constituency. He qualified in 2005 and works in criminal law for a Hull firm. Others in yesterday’s contest to succeeded the retiring former Deputy Prime Minister were George McNamara (the nephew of a former Hull MP), Sally Mulready (Hackney councillor), Adenike Akindel and Gary Wareing.

Last night the victorious Mr Turner said: “I am honoured and privileged that I have been selected by the members of Hull East Labour Party and I look forward to campaigning with them and the current MP, John Prescott.

“John will be a formidable act to follow and has served the area with great pride and passion for nearly 40 years.

“It’s my aim to build on John’s legacy and I will work to ensure Hull East remains a Labour constituency at the next general election.”

Steve Brady, chairman of Hull East Labour Party, added: “We are proud to have Karl as our prospective parliamentary candidate. The level of interest in this selection has been considerable and now we want to concentrate on building on John’s hard work over the last 40 years.”

Asked about the whispering campaign, Mr Prescott Jr told The Mail on Sunday last month: “All I ever wanted was to put my case forward. I’m a Hull East lad. I just wanted to continue what John has achieved here. I just wanted to be a catalyst and force for change, to start building up the party and do good things for the city I was born and bred in and love.”

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