Prescott faces probe into how son got Commons pass

David Prescott, who works for a public relations consultancy with close links to the Government, was granted full access to Parliament while his father was running the country in the absence of Tony Blair.

Under strict parliamentary rules, those working for commercial organisations are not allowed to hold such passes, which give holders unrestricted access to MPs and the Palace of Westminster.

Mr Prescott's son works as an account director for Geronimo Communications, a firm which has worked on several Government contracts, including at least one project with an agency which comes under the control of Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

That department was scrapped in May following details of John Prescott's affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple.

David Prescott admitted last night that he had been given a Commons pass to do 'media monitoring' work for his father during the three weeks he was taking charge of Britain while Mr Blair was on holiday in the Caribbean.

He said he handed back the pass to Commons officials last Thursday when his father's duties ended.

Last night, Opposition MPs demanded an explanation from John Prescott about why he helped his son secure a Palace of Westminster pass when he could have continued to have his monitoring of the media carried out by his civil servants and the Labour Party.

They also want to know how long it was between the application for the pass being made to the Commons Pass Office and it being issued.

The application form asks detailed personal questions, including the names of parents, so the Commons authorities must have known that David Prescott's father was the Deputy Prime Minister.

Geronimo specialises in public sector campaigns. One of the company's directors is Gerard Sagar, a former Labour Party spokesman and ex-PR chief for the disastrous Millennium Dome project.

Geronimo's Government-linked projects have included work for the Government's Connexions careers service, the NHS, the Department for Education and Science, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Work and Pensions.

A spokesman for the House of Commons Commission said last night: "No passes are issued to lobbyists. Passes are only issued to MPs for people who are members of their staff.

"If somebody is given a pass as a member of an MP's staff and they have any conflicts of interest, they have to declare those conflicts of interest at the time to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner."

Tory Shadow Cabinet member Chris Grayling said last night: "Once again, we have an example of a senior Minister showing a distinct lack of judgment in his actions.

"The trouble is, particularly with John Prescott, people will automatically suspect the worst."

Tory MP Lee Scott called for an inquiry by Commons authorities. He said: "I took my daughter to the House last Thursday and she had to queue as a visitor like everybody else.

"Surely, civil servants in John Prescott's office or the Labour Party do his media monitoring.

"There should be no need for his son to go to the Commons to do it. We need to know more about how this happened, and I shall be asking questions when Parliament resumes."

Last night David Prescott said: "I took time off from work to assist John Prescott in monitoring the media.

"I handed the parliamentary pass back to the House of Commons Pass Office on Thursday." He refused to answer further questions.

John Prescott's spokeswoman said: "We have nothing to add to the statement given to you by David Prescott."

Before moving into public relations, David Prescott worked as a journalist with GMTV and the BBC.

In August 1999, he interviewed his father on GMTV for a story about Railtrack. At the end of the interview - unheard by viewers - David said: "Thanks, Dad."

David hit the headlines in 2002 after he appeared live during a TV weather forecast to ask his girlfriend Roz Greene, a BBC researcher, to marry him. They wed in October 2004.