US tycoon cancels Prescott meeting
American tycoon Philip Anschutz has cancelled a planned meeting with the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, following the controversy surrounding their relationship.
A spokeswoman for Mr Prescott said the billionaire had decided to cancel next week’s meeting due to “media hysteria” over the deputy prime minister’s contacts with the millennium dome owner, who wants to turn the site into Britain’s first super-casino.
But she added that the US businessman, who is visiting London, was keen to reschedule the meeting, which would be his eighth conference with Mr Prescott.
“Mr Anschutz was keen to update the deputy prime minister on progress on the regeneration aspects of the dome, but given the media hysteria over this last week, he felt it would be sensible to reschedule, which is what we are going to do,” the spokeswoman said.
Parliament’s commissioner for standards, Sir Philip Mawer, last week announced that he would be investigating Mr Prescott’s contacts with the tycoon after it was revealed that the deputy prime minister had failed to declare a stay at Mr Anschutz’s Colorado ranch on the Commons’ register of members’ interests.
Although Mr Prescott subsequently announced that he would voluntarily register details of his meetings with Mr Anschutz, the conduct of Tony Blair’s deputy has prompted allegations of impropriety over his role in the sale of the dome and the awarding of casino licences.
The deputy prime minister has denied any claims of wrongdoing and insisted that he was not involved in planning decisions relating to the dome, or responsible for approving sites for casinos.
The latest row follows a tumultuous time for Mr Prescott after he was stripped of his departmental responsibilities in May following the disclosure that he had had an affair with his diary secretary.
He was then forced to give up his grace-and-favour country mansion after he was photographed playing croquet there while standing in for the prime minister, who had gone on holiday.
