John Prescott, the former British deputy prime minister and stalwart of the New Labour movement, has died aged 86.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown led tributes on Thursday to Prescott, who had Alzheimer’s, after his family announced he had died peacefully at a care home.

“He was one of the most talented people I ever encountered in politics,” Blair told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “One of the most committed and loyal, and definitely the most unusual … There were no rules he really abided by.”

Prescott served as deputy prime minister for more than a decade under Blair, and was seen as a custodian of the Labour party’s traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership.

He acted as a mediator in the often turbulent relationship between Blair and Brown, and oversaw government policy on the environment, transport and the regions, helping to negotiate the international Kyoto protocol on climate change.

At times short-tempered, Prescott famously punched a protester who threw an egg at him during an election campaign visit to north Wales in 2001.

He was ennobled in 2010 and introduced to the upper chamber as Lord Prescott of Kingston upon Hull, having served for four decades as an MP for the city.

Blair said in a statement: “There was nothing about John which fitted conventional wisdom. He was from proud traditional working-class stock yet understood instinctively and completely the aspirations of that class and their desire to better themselves.

“He could talk in the bluntest and sometimes bluest language, but it concealed a first-rate intellect which meant he thought as deeply about issues as much as he cared about them. It is no exaggeration to say the Labour party could never have won three consecutive full terms without John. He was a commanding presence.”

Brown described Prescott as a “titan” and a “gentleman” and said that “despite an outwardly deceptive image of uncompromising toughness, he was generous, believing in the good in everyone”.

“John Lennon said the working-class hero is a difficult thing to be, but I think John would be just fine with being remembered that way. He wanted the good things in life for everyone and not just himself. And he showed that Britain can be a country where if you work hard you can fill your potential,” Brown said.

Speaking on the Today programme, Brown said “Britain has got this image around the world of an aristocratic and still unreformed and sometimes deferential and hierarchical society. John broke through all this. John gave people who were starting from low-income backgrounds the sense that they could achieve something and achieve something right to the point of deputy prime minister – it’s something that [the deputy prime minister] Angela Rayner talks about now, to her great credit.”

On the same programme, Blair recalled: “He had this extraordinary instinctive sense that something was afoot. He often used to come in unannounced into my room in Downing Street and he would say to me: ‘I know you’re up to something, I don’t know quite what it is, but I know you’re up to something.’ And I would be sort of protesting and saying: ‘No, John, you’ve got it all wrong’ … and of course he would always be right.”

Blair recounted the moment Prescott punched the egg-throwing protester. “This caused a huge sort of fracas, obviously. We had to give a press conference in the election campaign the next day … I just said: ‘Well, John is John.’ And so was that supposed to be an answer? I said: ‘Yeah, that’s an answer, that’s as much as you can say.’”

Peter Mandelson, an architect of the New Labour movement, revealed he worked for Prescott in his 20s and that Prescott later gave him a reference when he applied to join the party as its campaign and communications director.

“What he said to me at the time was: ‘Peter I’ll do this for you. You’ll do a job. Well, you’ll do a reasonable job; you might as well do it. You’ve got to keep your nose out of politics’,” Lord Mandelson said.

“I said: ‘John, I’m wanting to be the campaign director of the Labour party’. He said: ‘You know what I mean. You keep your nose out of politics and stop stirring things up. Just do a job and then that will be fine’.”

Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said Prescott had been “a true giant” of the Labour movement. “His passion, force of personality and pride in his working-class roots was key to his authenticity – an honesty that was recognised and respected across the political divide and across the nation.”

Al Gore, the former US vice-president who worked with Prescott on the Kyoto protocol in 1997, said he had “never worked with anyone in politics – on my side of the pond or his – quite like John Prescott”.

“He possessed an inherent ability to connect with people about the issues that mattered to them – a talent that others spend years studying and cultivating, but that was second nature to him,” Gore said. “He fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto protocol and was an unwavering champion of climate action for decades to come.”

William Hague, the former Conservative party leader, said Prescott had been “a formidable debater” who “had a unique ability to speak directly to the concerns of the people he represented”.

“It was a point of pride for both of us that we hailed from Rotherham. Although it shaped us in different ways, we shared a certain bluntness in our exchanges – though in true Yorkshire fashion John usually got straight to the point faster than I did!”

Prescott’s wife, Pauline, and sons Johnathan and David said he had died “surrounded by the love of his family and the jazz music of Marian Montgomery” and that representing the people of Hull had been “his greatest honour”.

“John spent his life trying to improve the lives of others, fighting for social justice and protecting the environment, doing so from his time as a waiter on the cruise liners to becoming Britain’s longest-serving deputy prime minister.”

Prescott ceased to be a member of the Lords in July after developing health difficulties. He had spoken only once in the chamber since having a stroke in 2019, official records show, and had not voted since February 2023.

Prescott was a loyal supporter of Blair in office but subsequently critical of parts of New Labour’s legacy, denouncing Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war. He also strongly defended Jeremy Corbyn during his time as party leader in the face of fierce criticism.

The son of a railway signalman, he was born in Prestatyn, Wales in 1938, and left school at 15 to work as a trainee chef and then as a steward on the Cunard Line before entering politics.