Britain’s longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, was surrounded by his family and his favourite jazz music when he died. | ITV National News

Former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served under Tony Blair and helped transform the country’s Labour Party, John Prescott is dead.

John Prescott, Britain's longest-serving deputy prime minister who died on Wednesday, was indispensable to Tony Blair's New Labour government, a working-class trailblazer who connected with the public in ways most politicians cannot.

Tributes have been paid to Lord John Prescott, a major figure in Labour politics and the former deputy prime minister, following his death at the age of 86. Known for his blunt, no-nonsense style, Lord Prescott was Sir Tony Blair's loyal deputy for 10 years after Labour's 1997 general election landslide.

Prescott was known as a plain-speaking politician who bridged the divide between the traditional left-wing and the modernizers in the Labour Party.

Leading figures from across the North East have paid tribute to former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott after his death at the age of 86.