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Deputy Prime Ministers Career May be in Jeopardy

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's political career is in jeopardy, following the new information brought to light linking him to a US casino magnate.

A recent investigation by the Conservatives has revealed that Prescott met with the American billionaire who is a candidate in turning London's Millennium Dome into a super casino.

The Conservatives have demanded a parliamentary statement regarding Prescott's influence on casino policy after they revealed what they claimed was potentially damning evidence against the deputy prime minister under the Freedom of Information Act. The evidence shows that Prescott paid a visit in November of 2004 to Sydney Star City Casino on what his official described as an "official business" to "get a feel for what an establishment of that size was like."

The casino controversy began when it was revealed that Prescott and members of his former department had stayed at the Colorado Ranch of US billionaire Philip Anschutz in the summer of last year. The casino tycoon owns Anschutz Entertainment Group or AEG, the firm that runs the Millennium Dome. The Millennium Dome was handed to AEG in 2004 in return for a cut in future profits that will be generated from its use as an entertainment complex. Prescott insists that they did not discuss anything that relates to the negotiations.

"My contact with Philip Anschutz relates solely to the use of the Dome post-sale in terms of the regeneration of the area and Mr Anschutz's interest in William Wilberforce, a former Hull MP and slavery abolitionist about whom Mr Anschutz is making a film as I am personally involved in the 2007 abolition bicentenary, " Prescott defended in a statement.

But Prescott admitted recently that that was not the only time he met with the tycoon, in fact he had met Anschutz on six previous occasions to discuss "post-sale" use of the dome, and its potential use for the 2012 London bid for the Olympics.

"The deputy prime minister had no role in planning, had no role in negotiation and has had no role in the siting of casinos, " Richard Caborn, the Minister for Gambling and a close ally of Mr Prescott, told MPs on Monday.

Hugo Swire, the shadow secretary for the department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "Prescott's wheeling and dealing causes further concern that Labour's determination to relax gambling laws is being driven by big business, not the public interest."

"Admittedly it is difficult to work out what exactly Mr Prescott's current responsibilities actually are but it would seem that they certainly did, contrary to your bold statement include responsibility for some aspects of gambling legislation, " Swire said in light of the recent developments. "If there has been a change in his responsibilities can you let us know?"

Prescott was stripped of his departmental responsibilities by Prime Minister Tony Blair in May after it was disclosed that he had a two-year extramarital affair with his diary secretary.