Prescotts lord it at sumptuous Dorneywood
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Your support makes all the difference.THE BLAIRS adore Chequers and the Cooks simply love evenings at Chevening, but wild horses couldn't drag the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to his official country pile.
Yet Dorneywood in Buckinghamshire costs pounds 250,000 a year to run, and to one minister it seemed daft that a fine residence was being wasted.
It emerged this week that the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, has stepped into the breach and agreed to use the 45-bedroom mansion as his own occasional retreat.
In a written parliamentary answer, Mr Prescott revealed that he and his wife, Pauline, had stayed at the mansion at least six times so far this year.
He may still describe himself as working-class, but Mr Prescott has never denied his penchant for the finer things in life, owning two Jaguar cars and an eight-bedroom home in his Hull constituency known locally as Prescott's Castle. When in London, he lives in a magnificent apartment in Admiralty Arch.
Malcolm Bruce, the Liberal Democrat MP who asked Mr Prescott about his use of the residence, said yesterday that "he and his wife seem to have emerged as the Duke and Duchess of Dorneywood. But as this week's Queen's Speech has shown, when it comes toBills on the environment, he seems to have less influence than the Downing Street cat."
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