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Labour Party Rallies Behind Prescott

Amid the controversy surrounding Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, he has found allies in the form of Downing Street, some ministerial colleagues and Labour backbenchers.

In defense of Prescott, they say that the Prime Minister's second in command's meeting with casino tycoon Philip Anschutz were legitimate discussions about the role the billionaire's company Anschutz Entertainment Group, or AEG, was playing in regenerating the Thames Gateway area.

Anschutz's firm is bidding for the Millennium Dome to be turned into Britain's first super casino.

Angela Eagle, member of the backbench committee for regeneration, believes that Prescott had simply been doing his job.

"It's all smoke and screaming headlines in an attempt to destabilize the deputy prime minister by his political opponents, who think if they do that they can destabilize the prime minister," she said. "I think it's important that Downing Street stands by ministers who have done nothing wrong,"

"If you are going to be made to resign because the Daily Mail put you on the front page and there's a lot of noise around, we are in a situation where it's virtually impossible to be in government," she added.

"This is all hot air generated by the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard. It is a duty of a minister to speak to a man bringing thousands of jobs and homes to east London," said another of Prescott's backers, Nick Raynsford, Labour MP for Greenwich and Woolwich.

"If we let the facts get in the way of the political story, these allegations will have no impact whatever," Lord Rooker, who was planning minister in 2003, likewise said.