Prescott gives up Dorneywood too late

Many of us would have given our back teeth to have been a fly on the wall at 10 Downing Street on 5th May 2006 during Tony Blair's cabinet reshuffle. Simon Hoggart commented that John Prescott was in there for ages:

What had he done in there for over three hours? Does Blair say, "Look, John, the bad news is I have to sack you. The good news is that Cherie has made some of her delicious brownies, and we hope you'll stay!"

There was even speculation in the Daily Mirror that John Prescott was about to throw himself at Tony Blair's mercy mentioning that "wife Pauline is threatening to leave him if she loses her Dorneywood 'haven' "

Whatever conversations went on in 10 Downing Street on that fateful day, the agreement that Prescott would stay at Dorneywood soon melted like the ice-cubes in the Pimms at JP's rudely snooped-upon croquet party.