Prescott bullish over casino-gate

John Prescott defended his position on the Today programme this morning, claiming he never discussed the casino proposals of his ranch-holiday host, billionaire Philip Anschutz.
He told presenter John Humphries "I know there is a media storm against me - they don't like me and to be honest, I don't like them."
This was a reference to the blizzard of internet stories about other sexual liaisons during his time as DPM - there are alleged to be at least two other stories about to break.
Trouble continued for Prescott today with the release, under a freedom of information request, of memos and other communications between his old department, OPDM, and the DCMS, who have overall responisibility for casinos.
ODPM ask to be kept informed of all contacts with Anschutz's company that anyone at DCMS had. This seems to conflict directly with Prescott's claim that he had in interest in the casino licencing process.
Will the DPM survive these constant drip-drip of revalations? It would seem that no matter how bad things are, if he can make it to the Parliamentary recess he will survive the summer.
But the summer could be even worse - with Prescott nominally in charge of the country, the press will be hungrier than ever for dirt. If there is more than one affair, female Labour MPs will no longer feel they can defend his postion.
If some enterprising journalist can prove a more concrete link between Prescott and the casino billionaire then he will face more calls to stand down
And be assured, every enterprising journalist in the country is looking for that link.
It seems less and less likely that Prescott can run the country for 3 weeks in this sort of atmosphere.
What is the solution? Perhaps a judicious health scare would remove the DPM from government responsibility for a while. He could of course remain as deputy leader until the conference in September can pick a successor.
Or perhaps he can announce his intention to go at conference - putting pressure on Blair to do the same.
One thing is for sure - the old notion that politically nothing happens in August might be turned on its head this year.