JOHN PRESCOTT’S son is embroiled in a row this weekend over claims that he used the deputy prime minister’s official apartment in Whitehall for a private business meeting to discuss a property scheme.

Contractors involved in the scheme to overhaul a property in southwest London allegedly met Johnathan Prescott in Admiralty House.

Prescott Jr admits taking the men to his father’s apartment but claims the visit was purely to “show them round” and business was not discussed.

This version of events is disputed in a signed statement provided by one of those present, who claims it was a business meeting.

The latest allegations will raise fresh questions about the professional relationship between father and son after Prescott Jr went into business as a property developer.

Last week The Sunday Times revealed that Prescott Jr’s firm, Estate Partnerships, is cashing in on the housebuilding boom planned by his father.

Some of Britain’s biggest property developers have employed his firm to identify land that would jump in value if granted planning permission.

Prescott Jr insisted that his father was unconnected to his business. However, this weekend it emerged that the pair’s professional lives have regularly overlapped.

The Sunday Times has established that Prescott Jr invited a property developer with whom he was negotiating a deal to a parliamentary reception hosted by his father last November.

The invitation extended by Prescott Jr to Johnny Gallagher, owner of JG Land & Estates, was for the Hull & Humber parliamentary reception held in Westminster last year.

At the time Prescott Jr was negotiating the sale of the Eaglescliffe Logistics Centre near Middlesbrough to Gallagher. The plan for the site is understood to include turning it into a large mixed-use development including up to 600 homes — potentially needing central government approval.

It has also emerged that Prescott Jr has been involved in talks about the scheme with the Tees Valley Regeneration company — a government quango set up to fund and encourage redevelopment schemes.

He has met Joe Docherty, the head of Tees Valley Regeneration, on three occasions, most recently over lunch last month.

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