Splat! Prezza campaign gets off to familiar start

Big, white and occasionally (it is rumoured) confrontational, John Prescott might not seem quite the right person to soothe upset Muslims in Labour's most ethnically diverse seat. But the decision to send him to Bethnal Green and Bow on a campaign visit this morning was - despite the almost inevitable egg-throwing incident - a stroke of genius. In a constituency where half the voters have an Asian mother tongue, New Labour gave them the only Cabinet minister for whom English is not his first language.

We're in a parade of wearylooking shops on the Ocean Estate. The rain is coming down. The crowd is small, and some are wearing suspiciously good suits - Labour Party officials brought in to make up the numbers.

Is this the worst place in the constituency, I ask one. "Not at all - it's had lots of attention," he says, looking me straight in the eye. "I'm rather envious. I wish I lived here myself."

The Deputy Prime Minister's advance man arrives in a silver Mercedes - the luxury car side of the operation remains in good health - and then it's time for the Prescott Express itself, a gleaming red-and-white coach wafted in from a nicer, more prosperous world.

"Keep an eye on the till when he's in there," calls a cheeky voter as Prescott disappears into the Around A Pound shop. Despite what you might call the key pledge on the storefront, many of the goods inside turn out to be priced at more like ?5.49. This should not be taken as a metaphor for Labour's tax policy.

"We'll save halal meat, because there have been rumours!" promises the Deputy Prime Minister at the Asian grocery store, neatly manoeuvring to avoid being photographed with an oddly shaped vegetable. "We've done a lot; a lot still to do."

Luckily, the sari store next door is closed. The thought of Mr Prescott in a sari is frightening.

Prescott has something of a fixation with handing out Labour's pledge card, and seems very proud a special limited edition has been produced with his picture on it. But Bethnal Green voters are more likely to be interested in the war.

The campaign proper is less than 36 hours old, but already this scruffy slice of the East End has seen no fewer than three ministerial visits, including one yesterday from Gordon Brown. Could Labour be worried about losing this seat? You bet they are. The local MP, Oona King, voted in favour of the war, the constituency is 50 per cent Muslim and Respect's George Galloway is on the prowl.

It's going to be a vintage contest. "King's forfeited any right to call herself a representative," Galloway has said. "The term Blair Babe might have been invented for her; she glories in it." King: "Galloway makes me laugh. The only person he's interested in is himself. I don't think he's been sighted in a constituency surgery for about three years."

Cabinet ministers will almost certainly be more familiar to the voters here by the time 5 May rolls round than their own families. Labour really wants to win this one.

But Prescott is not tested today, despite rumours of a Respect ambush. The venue has been kept secret until the last minute to prevent just such a danger. But the voters are polite, respectful, if more than a little disengaged.

Only in the closing moments of Tour Prescott do events liven up. A long-distance egg is thrown at the Prescott bus, but half-heartedly and late. The Deputy Prime Minister is already inside and away. Round one to New Labour, but it's probably too much to hope that all future attacks by their opponents will be similarly feeble and ill-timed.