Prescott faces new jibes over his summer job

Tony Blair is relaxing by the pool, the Tories are tearing themselves apart, and John Prescott triggers a row as he is left in charge of the country.

Yes, it's that time of year again. August is the cruellest month for the Deputy Prime Minister as he attempts to "mind the shop" amid barbed criticism from his political opponents. Like the first cuckoo of spring, the first tabloid "Prezza gaffe" of summer normally arrives just as he is handed the keys to Downing Street and the Prime Minister jets off on holiday with the wife and kids.

The Liberal Democrats did their best yesterday to keep up a ritual that's become as much a part of British summer as rainswept seafronts and England losing at cricket. Normally, Mr Prescott comes under fire for his imprecise syntax, outspoken comments, or the plain ridiculousness of his annual photo opportunities.

But in an unusual twist, Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrats' chairman, claimed that this year, instead of appearing too much, the Deputy Prime Minister was not appearing enough.

Mr Oaten went further and challenged Mr Prescott to justify his title and role amid claims that he had turned into the "invisible man" of the Government.

The Winchester MP said that he had received a written parliamentary answer that revealed the Deputy Prime Minister's role since the post-election reshuffle was "vague", and that it often overlapped with other departments.

Mr Oaten also referred to reports that, this year, Mr Blair had kept in constant touch with his office and was spending time while he was holiday doing official business.

He said: "John Prescott hasn't exactly been putting himself about. The Prime Minister's habit of telephoning home from holiday is not a ringing endorsement of his second-in-command. So, it all begs the question, what does John Prescott actually do?"

The Cabinet Office issued a swift rebuttal yesterday to the Liberal Democrat's claims, saying that he was responsible for overseeing social exclusion and regional government, and for supporting the Prime Minister on the international stage.

"He's doing the job the Prime Minister asked him to do, which is co-ordinating the work of government across departments. He's getting on with the job, not just talking about it," a spokesman said.

However, it is certainly true that Mr Prescott's time in charge this year has not been marked by his characteristic photo calls or by his usual public visits. The poisoned chalice of Minister for August has instead been split between the Health minister Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister Beverley Hughes, and John Spellar, a Transport minister.

During his time in opposition, Mr Prescott used to make the summer very much his own – and that was when grabbing the headlines mattered much more, when he could be seen on Cleethorpes seafront, for instance, shouting such memorable lines as "Same old Tories, same old lies".

But in government, he couldn't resist the lure of the summer offensive either, comparing Peter Mandelson to a crab in a jam jar, wearing a lifejacket, and launching attacks on spin doctors and pollsters, as well as on William Hague.

But this year, Mr Prescott has decided to focus more on the behind-the-scenes work at Downing Street, restricting himself in the past week to just one photo call, to see urban regeneration in Gateshead.

After spending a couple of hours working at his flat off Whitehall, the DPM, as he is known, occupies Mr Blair's private office for briefings from officials and the security services. Sitting in what he calls "Daddy Bear's chair", he keeps an eye on the news headlines, a fact underlined when he told the Department of Health to remove the "red tape" preventing a boy from Sierra Leone receiving hospital treatment in the UK.

"John doesn't need to be on the television and the radio all the time," one ministerial ally said. "He's simply working hard on our priority of delivering world-class public services."