THE build-up to an election can do funny things to a man - the Deputy Prime Minister in particular. In 2001, John Prescott thumped a protester who threw an egg in his direction.

Now he has embraced two of his pet hates: celebrity and "press tattle", a word he invented to summarise his contempt for political journalism.

Unlike the Prime Minister - who wasted no time in inviting rock stars, artists and models to Downing Street for a glass of champagne in the wake of his 1997 triumph - Mr Prescott has never been dazzled by the rich and famous.

But there he was on Tuesday, cosy-ing up to Star Trek veteran Patrick Stewart, TV actor Ross Kemp, actress Prunella Scales and Trudie Goodwin, from ITV's The Bill .

Lined up on a sofa next to a red pillarbox to demonstrate how easy it is for voters to access the ballot box, he didn't exactly look delighted.

He was possibly wondering where Labour's properly famous supporters had gone.

Soul crooner Mick Hucknall could have turned out, for example. But he probably feels he's done his bit by lending the Simply Red "classic" If You Don't Know Me By Now to Labour's wretched party political broadcast about Michael Howard - available now on DVD and the Internet.

But I was still disappointed. An institution in his own right, Mr Prescott should have been spared from taking part in the stunt - even if he is the bloke whose department forced through plans for postal voting across Yorkshire and the Humber on June 10.

Even worse was his "opportunism" - a word much-loved by Labour politicians upset by the Tory party having the cheek to point out the post-war reconstruction effort in Iraq is a disaster - in the wake of a newspaper interview given by Caroline Spelman.

Ms Spelman, Conservative spokesman on local government, was asked if her party would consider any elements of the despised Poll Tax when deciding how to replace the hated Council Tax.

She indicated it would - a statement of the obvious since to rule out help for pensioners living alone would be to confine them to a life of financial misery.

But she gave no suggestion whatsoever she was looking at the bit of the Poll Tax which had people marching through the streets, namely the fact that people living in tiny houses paid the same as those living in vast country estates.

To clear up any confusion Ms Spelman issued a blunt statement. "Let me make it absolutely clear: We will not bring back the poll tax."

But Mr Prescott, who rants constantly about journalists who seek to a) mislead and b) trivialise politics, was not to be deterred.

In a press release issued a full hour after Ms Spelman's denial, he said: "People will be appalled that the Conservatives have today declared they want to bring back the Poll Tax."

To be a bruiser with a dislike for journalists is one thing. We were not, after all, put on this earth to be popular. I can even put up with a bit of celebrity shmoozing if it improves voter turnout from appalling to just bad in the European and local election poll.

But a man who prides himself on his What You See Is What You Get reputation turning hypocrite on the subject of "press tattle"? Oh dear, Mr Prescott.

Parliament is now in recess. James Slack returns on June 11.

Updated: 10:18 Friday, May 28, 2004