John Prescott today claimed the tax free £300 a day he gets simply for turning up in the House of Lords is not enough.
The Labour grandee insisted he spent half the cash paying a secretary and half paying for travel and hotel bills for when he is in Parliament.
Lord Prescott clashed angrily with GMB host Piers Morgan in a heated live debate.
The pair also tangled over Brexit – with Morgan’s insistence Labour was confused over the issue prompting the ex deputy PM to swear.
John Prescott (right) today claimed the £300 a day he gets simply for turning up in the House of Lords is not enough in an angry clash with GMB’s Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid (left)
The Labour grandee insisted he spent half the cash paying a secretary and half paying for travel and hotel bills for when he is in Parliament
Lord Prescott exploded when Morgan asked him how much he claims from the taxpayer for working in Parliament.
The peer said: ‘I get £300. £150 goes to my secretary and £150 goes to a hotel. Do you do that?
‘Do you spend all your bloody expenses? No you don’t. You’re coining it in and asking me about £300.
‘I live in the north, I have to travel down to London. That’s half of it and I do have to live because I haven’t got the accommodation in London, right?
‘So that’s where it goes. Do you want to put that into your analysis? ‘
Lord Prescott defended Labour delegates for swerving a divisive debate and vote on Brexit on the main conference floor today.
He insisted the details of how Brexit will work were not currently the ‘big issue’, adding: ‘Nobody knows where it’s going.’
Morgan interrupted to insist: ‘What is unclear about Labour is that the Labour position has been changing substantively and people are unclear about what kind of Brexit Labour now thinks we should have as a country.
‘That’s a legitimate debate surely?’
The pair also tangled over Brexit – with Morgan’s insistence Labour was confused over the issue prompting the ex deputy PM to swear
Prescott fired back: ‘It’s in the manifesto, we fought an election on it!
‘We made it clear what the conditions of Brexit should be and what we thought was important but we don’t know what the outcome is and neither do the Tories.
‘So while we wait we’ll have a debate, have a discussion, but it’s not the big important issue at the moment.
‘I hear all about transition – do you know how long you’re going to be in transition? Do you know how long you’re going to be in that job? You don’t bl***y well know!’
Morgan joked that Prescott’s expletive could lead to his job, saying: ‘I know exactly how long I’m going to be in his job.
‘It might be slightly less than I thought if you keep swearing at 7.21!’