Mail on Sunday Profiles Rosie Winterton

The Mail on Sunday's Simon Walters has written a two page profile of close Prescott friend Rosie Winterton. Rather than quote selectively from it, I thought my readers might enjoy reading the whole thing. I'm sure the Mail on Sunday won't mind...

At the Commons on Wednesday night, as demands for John Prescott to resign grew, the Deputy Prime Minister met four of his closest friends and allies for a 'council of war' to plan his survival strategy. Sports Minister Dick Caborn and Labour MPs Dave Watts and Paul Clark, who have publicly defended Mr Prescott, joined the Deputy Prime Minister for a quiet drink in the Strangers' Bar overlooking the River Thames. As they discussed how Mr Prescott could save his job, the group was joined by Health Minister Rosie Winterton, an ally and confidante of Mr Prescott for more than 25 years. The next morning he parried a sustained assault by the BBC's John Humphrys over his affair with diary secretary Tracey Temple and internet rumours of other women in his life.
Asked by Humphrys to state categorically that the rumours about his private life were untrue, Mr Prescott repeatedly avoided the issue. This failed to prevent further internet gossip appearing and being repeated in the media - though Mr Prescott's supporters denounced it as a 'Tory dirty-tricks campaign'.
Approached by The Mail on Sunday in the Commons last week, Mr Prescott again refused to talk about his private life and said he was the victim of a 'media assassination'. With the exception of wife Pauline, who is based mainly at the family home in Hull, no woman has exerted more influence over Mr Prescott than bubbly blonde Ms Winterton.
When Mr Prescott attended a weekend memorial concert for former Cabinet Minister Mo Mowlam at London's Theatre Royal in November, he was accompanied not by Mrs Prescott, but by Ms Winterton.
She has been loyal to him since she got a job making tea in his Hull constituency office after graduating from Hull University. Her loyalty has been richly rewarded. Thanks in no small part to his encouragement and patronage, petite Ms Winterton, who looks much younger than her 47 years, became a Labour MP in 1997.
She now earns £90,000 a year as a Minister of State for Health Services, just one rung below the Cabinet. The crowning glory of the rise and rise of Ms Winterton came earlier this month when she was appointed a Privy Counsellor, a member of the elite group that advises the Queen. This entitles her to be addressed as the Right Honourable Rosie Winterton. Her decision to remain single is certainly not the result of a lack of suitors.
'Rosie is the life and soul of the party and has loads of blokes throwing themselves at her,' said one northern Labour MP. 'I assume she never married because she was determined to get to the top in politics and had no time for a husband and kids.'She is proud of her trim figure and keeps her tan topped up through the winter.
Her short skirts and knee-high boots have raised some eyebrows, but her fun-loving manner has made her popular on all sides. Commons observers couldn't help but notice that Tracey Temple, the secretary with whom Mr Prescott conducted an affair, bears a certain resemblance to Ms Winterton. Asked about Mr Prescott's enduring friendship with Ms Winterton, one of his closest colleagues said: 'They've always been special friends.
They get on tremendously well and she knows how to handle John.' Ms Winterton's links with Mr Prescott's Hull constituency go back to her student days - she studied history at the city's university.
There, she had a romance with historian Dr Henry Irving, who is also a friend of the Deputy Prime Minister. After working for Mr Prescott, Ms Winterton became a lobbyist, campaigning for a Channel Tunnel rail link to the North of England and as parliamentary officer for the Royal College of Nursing.
She then achieved her dream of becoming a Labour MP, with Mr Prescott's help vital in her successful campaign to win the solid Labour seat of Doncaster Central, in her home town.
He paid frequent visits to the Yorkshire town and used to stop off on his way home to Hull to have a pint in the Little Plough pub opposite Doncaster station with local activists, urging them to back Ms Winterton.
Mr Prescott has continued to act as her guardian angel since she joined him on the Commons benches, assisting in her rapid promotion. Her performance as a Health Minister came under fire when a shake-up of NHS dentistry led to thousands of patients being forced to go private, prompting speculation that Ms Winterton would be forced out.
But Mr Prescott argued she should stay - and she survived. 'Whenever there is talk of her being moved in a reshuffle, John will lobby hard for her to keep her job,' said an insider. In his official biography of Mr Prescott, author Colin Brown says Ms Winterton's advice and political intelligence is worth 'its weight in gold' to her mentor.
In the run-up to the 1997 Election, she warned him that New Labour Blairites were plotting behind his back. Ms Winterton merits six mentions in the biography - more than former Home Secretaries Charles Clarke and David Blunkett. Asked if she had had an affair with Mr Prescott, Ms Winterton said last night: 'Absolutely not.'