Lord Peter Mandelson revealed that he and Lord Prescott had made peace during their last conversation earlier this year.

The two men did not always see eye to eye while serving in Tony Blair’s government, with Lord Prescott once comparing his colleague to a crab he named “Peter” in 1997.

But following news of his death on Thursday, Lord Mandelson revealed the couple had reconciled earlier this year over FaceTime.

“I mean, no advance warning. No, how are you. It was “Hello, is that you?” “Yes John, it’s me. What do you want?’

“He said, ‘I just want to say I know it was hard and we were horrible to you at times and I was, but actually you did good and I want to forgive you.’ What can I be forgiven for here? It was just, “I want to forgive you because you did good.” And I know it wasn’t easy at times and I know it was hard and I know I didn’t help but now I understand.

“And I said, ‘John, that’s very nice of you. How do you suddenly understand this? He said, “Well, someone gave me your book.” I haven’t read it before. It looked very boring. But I looked at it, I dove into it and I saw what you went through… I feel pretty sorry for you actually. And in any case, thank you very much.

“It was still a few minutes… but that was it. It was the last time I spoke to him.

He said: “When I say he was pretty brave, he was. When I say he was loyal, he was. When I say he was determined, he was.

“He was always determined to put forward his own ideas on a particular issue at any time. Until he said, “OK, I’ll do this for you.” You do this for me. As long as you cover that, I’ll be happy to accept it.

“So he was a negotiator. He was a union negotiator. He was a broker. But, ultimately, he wanted it to work and the way he made it work was to be incredibly difficult for days and then, finally, seal it, do some work, accept it and it’s gone. »

Lord Prescott, a key figure in the New Labor project, died “peacefully” and surrounded by loved ones in his care home, according to his family.