Former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been hailed as a working-class hero after his death at the age of 86.

LONDON – British politician John Prescott, a combative and personable former merchant seaman who rose to the post of deputy prime minister in Tony Blair’s Labor government, has died aged 86.

Prescott’s family announced his death Thursday. They said the politician, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died in a nursing home on Wednesday “surrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery.”

The family said Prescott “spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment.”

For ten years, Prescott brought poise, humor and working-class authenticity to the government of the young, brilliant Blair, who became prime minister in 1997.

“He was one of the most talented men I have ever met in politics, one of the most dedicated and loyal and certainly the most extraordinary,” Blair said.

An amateur boxer in his youth, Prescott experienced a defining moment when he punched a man who threw an egg at him during the 2001 general election.

For a moment it looked as if the uproar might harm the Labor Party and Prescott’s career. But Blair’s response – “John is John” – cemented his status as a people’s man.

Prescott was born in North Wales in 1938, left school at the age of 15 and worked as a steward on a cruise ship before entering politics through the trade union movement – a once common route that became less frequent after Blair renamed the left-wing party the New ” Labor Party” and shifted its policy towards the center,

Prescott was a proud member of the working class in a country where few people from that background are still at the top of politics. He unabashedly loved the finer things in life and was nicknamed “Two Prongs” by the press because he owned two luxury Jaguars.

The egg throwing incident earned him another nickname: “Two Strikes.”

Prescott was Blair’s deputy from 1997 to 2007. One of his greatest achievements was working with then US Vice President Al Gore on the landmark climate change agreement the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Gore said he “never worked with anyone in politics, either on my side or his side, unlike John Prescott.”

“He fought tooth and nail to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and has been a stalwart champion of climate action for decades. I am forever grateful to John for his commitment to solving the climate crisis and will miss him like a dear friend,” Gore said in a statement.

Prescott helped ease the sometimes tense relationship between Blair and his Treasury chief, Gordon Brown, and acted as a bridge between the party’s traditionalists and Blair’s modernizing faction. Brown said he played a key role in keeping the party together following Blair’s controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, a Blair ally, said Prescott was “the cement that held New Labour together”.

Prescott represented his home city of Hull in the north of England for four decades. After the Labor Party lost power in 2010, he became a member of the unelected upper house of Parliament, the House of Lords.

Brown, who succeeded Blair as prime minister, described Prescott as a true working-class hero.

“He wanted the best in life for everyone, not just himself,” Brown said. “And he showed that Britain can be a country where, if you work hard, you can realize your potential.”

He is survived by his wife Pauline and sons Jonathan and David.