Not quite Frost/Nixon

John Prescott talks to Pete Jefferys about Obama, George Bush and the recession

It seemed a bizarre combination. On the day that one of the most eloquent speakers in modern politics was sworn into office, celebrations in Cambridge were led by John Prescott, a man not known for his verbal dexterity. But as Obama stumbled over the sacred oath of office, Prescott's words couldn't have been clearer. 'We've forgotten to tell people what we've actually achieved'.

A fierce defender of Labour's record in government, Prescott has come to generate support for his 'Go 4th' campaign which looks for a fourth term for Labour. Judging by the packed Guildhall and the rapturous response to both his and Obama's speeches, it certainly appears that the left will not be afraid to put up a fight in coming elections.

Parallels between the Labour leadership and the new president were routinely drawn. Both have emphasised the need for government intervention in the economy in order to avoid the worst consequences of recession. Both have embraced new technology in order to engage with younger voters. Prescott jabbed his Blackberry towards the crowd and challenged them to see who was friends with him on Facebook. 'I've got two thousand new friends on Facebook', he joked, 'that's more friends than I've had in my life'.

His mantra for action certainly drew heavily from the Obama campaign. 'The politics of organisation are equally as important as the politics of ideas'. Ever the arch pragmatist, Prescott highlighted again and again the importance of local politics, student politics and internet politics. Whilst the battles of ideas are important, he argued, they will come to nothing without popular consensus and support.

Deputy Prime minister for 10 years, Prescott understands the sort of scrutiny Obama will face in office. He also understands just how important that day wass for America. His own government were greeted with a similar sense of relief, and equally astronomical poll ratings, when they came to office in 1997.

What's your assessment of this historic day?

I think people have got a sense that this is historic and they want to feel part of it. You see that with Americans, and hear it, but also witness it over here. For Labour party members, the language of Obama is Labour's language. Obama has been talking about the same sorts of policies as those of our government. I really want to point that out; that we've got a common affinity in ideas and in quality of leadership. I think this is important to change, not only in America, but globally.

For me, climate change is one of the biggest issues. Obama's already made his intention clear by appointing top scientists to his administration. After dealing for years with the Bush administration on climate change - people who even denied the science - it's nice to hear an American president talking about the issue.

What sort of changes do you think there will be for politics in the UK?

Well, take the fat cats for example. Gordon spent a lot of time in cabinet, when I was part of that, stressing the need for a new financial architecture. People used to ignore him. Bush certainly wasn't interested and America's a big voice on this issue whether we like it or not. I rather like that it's now Obama's voice and not Bush's.

Brown and Obama are going to approach this together. The recapitalisation of the banks was the right solution; even Bush had to admit that. What's important is the next stage when you move from rescuing banks which have been involved in this to regaining growth in the economy. The language and ideas for the rest of the world are coming from Gordon on this one. If there is an alliance, not just Brown and Obama, but Europe as well, then we will make progress, because a truly global solution must take everyone into account.

In my role for Kyoto [1997 climate change treaty], I negotiated for Europe. If that had just been a British voice it wouldn't have been enough. In a global world, consensus and joint action are the critical parts. To have an American president who understands and supports that is refreshing. I remember Bush telling us during the Kyoto convention that America wasn't going to agree. He thought that would veto the whole thing, but a number of us argued to do it without America. With Russia on board we had a sufficient percentage of the vote to have the treaty ratified. It's far better to have America on board however and I'm hopeful that, with Obama, that will now be the case.

What sort of approach should Obama be taking to the situation in Gaza?

It was hopeful that in the whole terrible business the roadmap could be a way of bringing justice to the Palestinian people. Their situation is truly awful. We had hoped, with America as the leading negotiator, that peace would be achieved. It wasn't.

But what line do you think Obama should take?

Well I think he knows that you can't get to an agreement in this situation unless you've got America on board. You can see what Israel's just done, frankly, was done with a nod and a wink from Bush. He was the man who told us that we've got to find an agreement but then he had to make clear, along with Condoleezza Rice, that as far as they were concerned, Israel was right. The issue of Israel goes beyond what has happened in Gaza; terrible as that is. It goes back to the failure to observe UN resolutions - returning lands to peoples rather than building more settlements on them. This is felt by Palestinians, and rightly so.

Hopefully Obama will see you've got to have fairness. That is one the things he keeps talking about: change, hope and fairness. I think Israel might realise that perhaps a different President is going to have a different approach.

Do you think that there will be a knock-on effect from Obama to energise the Labour party; here in Cambridge and around the country?

I would hope so. We lost this seat and we'd like to get it back! There are a lot of similarities between what Obama is saying and what we've done. If you look at what he's promised: to reduce poverty, to get people back to work, to provide health services for people. All those things were on our card of many years ago. I've still got it! [brandishes card from his pocket] But it's now being replaced by my Blackberry of course.

There was real excitement when a Labour government was elected in 1997. We had to deal with all the economic problems in those first two years. It's a real tragedy for us that, having produced the most sustained growth of any European economy, we would have it undermined by greedy bankers and financial institutions. They just went mad about making money and now we're paying the consequences for it.

Gordon Brown is still the best guy to deal with these problems but you have to have global consensus. You especially need to have the Americans on side. We hope that this new president will bring that change.

Obama talks about fairness and it reminds me of the remark made by Kennedy, 'think of what you can do for America'. That line should now become 'think of what you can do for the world' when it comes to being fair.

Curiously enough, I was a seaman for 10 years and we often went across to America. I've met a lot of Americans. I always thought they had a sense of wanting to be liked and a sense of fairness. That was all lost under Bush.

I think that when you listen to American's talking today, Republicans and Democrats, there's a sense they want to regain that fairness and positive image. They know that they're a powerful nation, but they want to know that they're fair. That's not been evident from America in the last decade.