John Prescott resigns from Privy Council

Rare step: John Prescott. Picture: Reuters

The Labour former cabinet minister took the rare step of withdrawing from the prestigious body over what he said was a “political” hold-up.

It could even “embroil the monarchy in a possible conflict with parliament and political division between the parties”, he suggested.

A cross-party royal charter setting up a new system of self-regulation along the lines recommended by last year’s Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking had been expected to be approved by a committee of the council.

But next week’s meeting – led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg – will instead consider a rival version drawn up by the industry and backed by most newspapers. Victims of press intrusion have reacted furiously to the delay – which means the Commons-backed system will not be considered until the autumn.

Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs, though, that the UK government had to follow the “correct legal processes” – which means priority must be given to the first of the royal charters to be formally submitted for consideration.

He insisted that he remained committed to the cross-party proposals and said there were “serious shortcomings” in the industry version.

Lord Prescott – a member of the Privy Council since becoming Labour’s deputy leader in 1994 – used his column in the Sunday Mirror to suggest the government had deliberately “dragged its feet”.

The peer said he had only “reluctantly accepted” the cross-party “compromise” on the original Leveson recommendations. He added: “But this Wednesday the Privy Council won’t be considering Parliament’s Royal Charter.

“It will be the rival Press Board of Finance Charter, written by press owners but not supported by all news-papers.

“The government dragged its feet in further consultation and the press industry put in its divided charter first. The rules and procedure, we are told, now mean it has to be considered first and consulted upon before parliament’s version, which is clearly a political decision by the Government.”

Revealing his resignation, he pointed out that the only  time all members of the council met was at the change of a monarch.

“Except I won’t be there. I have resigned as a Privy Councillor on this point of principle about how the charters are considered,” he wrote.