Analysis: 'It's about feeling in control'

John Prescott urged bulimia sufferers to seek help after confessing yesterday that stress had driven him to binge-eating throughout his time as a frontline Labour politician.

The former Deputy Prime Minister adopted the mantle of campaigner as he toured TV studios to explain why he has disclosed details of a condition he has suffered from since the 1980s. “I want to say to the millions of people, do take advice, it can help you out of a lot of misery that you suffer in silence,” he told the BBC yesterday.

Mr Prescott, 69, reveals the onset of his condition in his memoirs, published next month. Writing in The Sunday Times , he said that he had first started bingeing on comfort foods when appointed to Labour’s Shadow Cabinet in the 1980s.

His condition was diagnosed as bulimia nervosa in the early 1990s and worsened with the demands of office after Labour’s election victory in 1997. His bulimia appears to have ended around the time he stepped down as Deputy Prime Minister last year.

“I’m sure it was to do with stress. I wasn’t doing it all the time, and there would be gaps of weeks and months, but during those years when we first got into power I let things get on top of me and took refuge in stuffing my face,” he said. Mr Prescott lists burgers, chocolate, fish and chips, crisps, Marks & Spencer trifles and tins of Carnation condensed milk as items he craved. His wife, Pauline, persuaded him to see a consultant.

It emerged last night that in 1993 Mr Prescott had confided in Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor, about his problem. A spokesman for Mr Blair said last night that the former Prime Minister would not comment on whether he knew about Mr Prescott’s condition, because it was a private matter.

Mr Prescott, who resigned last June and will retire as MP for Hull East at the next election, was praised by experts for revealing that he had suffered from a condition usually associated with young women — female sufferers between the age of 12 and 20 account for 80 per cent of new cases of eating disorders.

Ty Glover, a consultant psychiatrist and specialist with Affinity Healthcare which operates the eating disorders unit at Cheadle Royal Hospital in Cheshire, said: “It’s a hugely brave and courageous thing for John to come out and admit that he was a bulimia sufferer.

“It’s hard enough for a young girl to confess to, but for a high-profile male politician approaching 70, it’s especially impressive.”

Susan Ringwood, from the support charity Beat, said that serious eating disorders carried the highest death rate of any mental illness.

“Anybody could have this condition. People absolutely shouldn’t be ashamed,” she added.

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