And Finally... John Prescott blasts "crap" George W Bush in amazing rant

The former deputy PM pulls no punches and says Bush was "cr*p".

Mr Prescott also reveals he "searched his soul" over backing the Iraq war.

And he claims ex-Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith was "very unhappy" at having to justify the legality of the 2003 invasion.

Mr Prescott bluntly tells the New Statesman magazine: "Bush is cr*p. You know it, I know it, the party knows it."

Conversations Mr Prescott witnessed between Tony Blair and President Bush were "hair-raising" he says.

And he claims he is still soul-searching over why he supported the war.

Mr Prescott says: "I do wonder, looking back now, having the privilege of discussing with Tony about all this, how did I then go along with it?"

Asked about Lord Goldsmith's opinion of the war's legality, Mr Prescott replies: "Was he a happy man about this? No, he wasn't." Mr Prescott heaps praise on Gordon Brown for being a "real Labour man" and says he would have supported him for the leadership in 1994 instead of Mr Blair.

He adds: "Gordon's like me. He's a Labour politician born and bred. With Gordon, the politics is much more serious - for him, it is a division between Tory and Labour."

But despite his support for Mr Brown, he once urged Mr Blair to sack him.

Prescott says: "I got fed up with the two of them moaning at me.

"I said to Tony, 'You're the Prime Minister. You're complaining you're not getting all the information you want, then bloody sack him, but don't keep moaning about it'."

And he reveals that he once told Mr Blair: "You're a bloody Tory."

He also says he threatened to quit if the then Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown was given a Cabinet role.

He said Mr Blair "asked me whether Paddy Ashdown could join the Labour Party, and I said, 'If he walks in that door I'm out that door. No discussion'."