Prescott facing more revelations

John Prescott has the support of the Prime Minister, despite the revelations

John Prescott is expected to face more revelations about his affair with his diary secretary after she gave an interview to the Mail on Sunday.

Tracey Temple has been paid in excess of £100,000 to talk about the affair.

Her publicist Max Clifford said the Cabinet Office gave no support to Ms Temple when the affair became public, a claim the government denies.

Meanwhile, Mr Prescott did not turn up to his monthly surgery with constituents in Hull on Saturday.

'Totally untrue'

Speaking to BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Mr Clifford said Ms Temple wanted to set the record straight and would get "an awful lot more" than the reported £100,000 fee.

It's difficult to describe what it's like when suddenly masses of photographers, journalists turn up on your doorstep and day after day you are reading a lot of things in the national press which are totally untrue about you which is very damaging and very hurtful Max Clifford

He said: "She had absolutely nothing to do with the story coming out, so then she went to the Cabinet Office and her colleagues for help and advice on how to handle the media and got nothing, nothing at all.

"All they were interested in was looking after John Prescott. Meanwhile, day after day, she is reading stuff in the papers a lot of which is totally untrue."

A government spokesman said: "The Cabinet Office and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have been in frequent and regular contact with Tracey, providing her with support as a responsible employer."

The deputy prime minister admitted earlier this week to having an affair with Ms Temple, which immediately sparked speculation about his future in the cabinet.

He has received public support from both Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown. The prime minister insisted it was a private matter.

Mr Clifford suggested that Ms Temple was entitled to stand up for herself.

Newsnight poll

Asked if she wanted to see Mr Prescott lose his job over the affair, he said: "No. She wants the truth out there. She wants people to judge her as she really is, as opposed to what they are reading which is 10% reality and 90% rubbish.

"It's difficult to describe what it's like when suddenly masses of photographers, journalists turn up on your doorstep and day after day you are reading a lot of things in the national press which are totally untrue about you which is very damaging and very hurtful."

An ICM telephone poll for BBC Two's Newsnight suggested that most voters felt Mr Prescott should not resign in the wake of his affair.

Of 1,001 people questioned on Wednesday and Thursday this week, 37% said he should go and 57% said he should not resign.

Tory questions

However, some Tory MPs are asking questions about reports that Mr Prescott took Ms Temple to his official residence.

Backbencher Derek Conway has written to the Cabinet Office to complain that Mr Prescott may have broken the ministerial code of conduct if he entertained his lover at the taxpayer's expense at Dorneywood, Buckinghamshire.

A spokesman for Sir John Bourn, the prime minister's newly appointed adviser on ministerial conflicts of interest, said he had not been asked to investigate allegations that the deputy prime minister broke the ministerial code of conduct.