Edited sentence: "Every time Prescott opens his mouth, it's like someone has flipped open his head and stuck in an egg whisk.An oft-quoted but unverified story in Jeremy Paxman's The Political Animal is that, before being accepted as transcribers to Hansard, applicants must listen to one of Prescott's speeches and write down what he was trying to say.One of many examples occurred at the 2006 Labour spring conference where the BBC reported "Fans of Prescottese were not disappointed as the deputy prime minister began by harking back to the bad old days when Labour had 'single finger majorities'".Prescott has gained a reputation in the British press for confused speech, mangled syntax and grammar.The Guardian columnist Simon Hoggart once commented: