LONDON – British politician John Prescott, a combative and personable former sailor who rose to the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Tony Blair’s Labor government, has died aged 86.

Prescott’s family announced his death on Thursday. They said the politician, who had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died in a nursing home on Wednesday “surrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery.”

The family said Prescott had “dedicated his life to trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment.”

For a decade, Prescott brought grit, humor and working-class authenticity to the government of the young, polished Blair, who became prime minister in 1997.

“He was one of the most talented people I’ve ever met in politics, one of the most committed and loyal, and certainly the most unusual,” Blair said.

An amateur boxer in his youth, Prescott had a defining moment when he beat a man who threw an egg at him during the 2001 general election.

The uproar briefly looked like it might damage the Labor Party and Prescott’s career. But Blair’s response – “John is John” – cemented his popular status.

Born in North Wales in 1938, Prescott left school at 15 and worked as a cruise ship steward before entering politics through the trade union movement – a once common route that became less frequent after Blair renamed the left-wing party “New Labour” and shifted his politics toward the center,

Prescott was a proud working-class figure in a country that still has few from that background at the top of politics. He unapologetically enjoyed the finer things in life and was nicknamed “Two Jags” by the press because he owned two Jaguar luxury cars.

The incident with the egg thrower earned him another nickname: “Two Jabs.”

Prescott served as Blair’s deputy between 1997 and 2007. One of his proudest achievements was working with then US Vice President Al Gore on the landmark Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement in 1997.

Gore said he had “never worked with anyone in politics — on my side of the pond or his — quite like John Prescott.”

“He fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and was a steadfast champion of climate action for decades to come. I am eternally grateful to John for that commitment to solving the climate crisis and will miss him as a dear friend,” Gore said in a statement.

Prescott helped ease the sometimes strained relationship between Blair and his finance chief, Gordon Brown, and acted as a bridge between the party’s traditionalists and Blair’s modernizing faction. Brown said he was key to holding the party together after Blair’s controversial decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Former minister Peter Mandelson, a Blair ally, said Prescott was “the cement that held New Labour together.”

Prescott represented his hometown of Hull in northern England for four decades. After Labor lost power in 2010, he became a member of Parliament’s unelected upper house, the House of Lords.

Brown, who succeeded Blair as prime minister, described Prescott as a true working-class hero.

“He wanted the good things in life for everyone and not just himself,” Brown said. “And he showed that Britain can be a country where if you work hard you can fulfill your potential.”

He is survived by his wife Pauline and sons Johnathan and David.