Honest John

Early start today to catch up with John Prescott outside the sunny Grand National at Aintree on Merseyside.

The Tory Shadow Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, has said that the Tories would cut the "A-list" of sporting events listed for guaranteed free-to-air broadcasting. These are premier British sporting events, like the National. They will be opened up to allow paid for TV channels to buy the rights to show them.

Today John was  launching the backthenational.com petition and asking people to pledge to support keeping the Grand National on free TV.

John received strong support from the crowds heading into Aintree - as well as some friendly banter ("this is a horse race not a boxing match John!").

You might not be surprised to hear that while John didn't have a clue who's going to win today, he did say his money's on Labour for May 6th.