Brown defends under-fire Prescott

Mr Johnson stressed he was not launching a "campaign"

Chancellor Gordon Brown has come to the defence of deputy leader John Prescott.

He said the lesson from recent events was the government had to show it was working hard for people and the future.

The Conservatives have called for the deputy prime minister to resign following revelations of his affair with diary secretary Tracey Temple.

Speculation about his future has been fuelled by Education secretary, Alan Johnson, saying he would like the job when Mr Prescott goes.

'Not personalities'

Mr Brown was speaking in Berlin, where he met German leader Angela Merkel and his counterpart Peer Steinbrueck.

He said Mr Prescott, who this week gave up his grace-and-favour home Dorneywood in Buckinghamshire, was still required,

The chancellor said: "We've got difficulties over crime and immigration.

"It's not about personalities; it's about whether we can actually answer the challenges that people face.

"I think we've shown we can do that on the economy, we've now got to show we can do it in the public services." Pressed on the question of when Tony Blair would step down as leader, he said: "That's not the issue. Tony Blair has said he's not standing at the next election. That issue will be resolved over time."

'No campaign'

Earlier, in a recorded interview for ITV's GMTV Sunday Programme, the education secretary became the first cabinet minister to express interest in taking over from John Prescott as Labour deputy leader.

But he said until the job is vacant he was a "world away" from any "campaign".

He said he "very much hopes" under-fire Mr Prescott kept the job.

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Mr Prescott, meanwhile, told the Independent he was pleased to be "free" of his country home, which he gave up on Wednesday.

He said he was happy to be getting on with his job and he wanted to use all his energies to ensure Labour won a fourth term in office.

On Friday Mr Prescott is hosting a meeting of the British-Irish Council in east London before Mr Blair is expected to resume control of official duties later in the day.

Representatives from the British and Irish governments, the devolved administrations, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man will discuss the impact of extreme weather patterns and changing temperatures.

As environment secretary, Mr Prescott helped broker the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, committing countries to reductions in polluting carbon dioxide.

Under scrutiny

Mr Johnson's statement came after Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman fuelled speculation about her own intentions when she said there should be two deputy leaders in future, one of whom should be a woman.

Mr Prescott lost his department in a reshuffle after his affair with Ms Temple became public in April.

The prime minister has said Mr Prescott is to chair nine Cabinet committees and deputise for him on seven others but opposition parties say the row over him keeping his job is not at an end.

He initially kept his grace-and-favour homes - Dorneywood and a London flat in Admiralty House - and his £133,000-a-year salary.

But on Wednesday he gave up Dorneywood in the wake of newspaper pictures showing Mr Prescott playing croquet.

The deputy prime minister later denied he had been playing while deputising for the prime minister saying the croquet game took place two days before Mr Blair went on holiday but accepted the scrutiny was "getting in the way" of his government job.