Two-Jags the Brave

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been universally praised by the psychiatric community for making public his struggle with bulimia nervosa whilst in office. Prescott's admission in an article for The Sunday Times to stuffing his face with burgers, chips and chocolates and vomiting them back up in times of stress has been described as "brave and courageous" and a positive example to men suffering from eating disorders - conditions more often associated with young women, models and actresses - who may feel too scared and ashamed to seek treatment. Prescott is also lending his support to a new NHS campaign aimed at raising awareness of eating disorders.

All this might have been enough for me to reassess my opinion of the man (I've never liked him) had it not been for the fact that his admission just so happens to coincide with the publication of his memoirs next month (in which we are promised the full details of his illness). To have a public figure, especially one as unashamedly masculine as Prescott, campaigning for such a stigmatised illness is a good thing and I would be churlish to deny it but it seems to me like a carefully calculated and cynical move to score brownie points with the public in the hope of shifting more units of his memoir, an impression reinforced by Mr. Prescott turning up on every news programme clutching said tome and being filmed casually flicking through its pages.

Exploiting his own health problems in this way does rob his admission of genuine bravery and nobility but, even so, there is no denying that generating publicity on eating disorders could encourage those suffering from such conditions, especially men, to put aside their embarrassment and seek help.

Prescott has, after all, done more than I have.