UK News 28-11-2000 Prescott: "Macho? Moi?" who: John Prescott what: Refuses to apologise to French minister where: House of Commons, LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "John Prescott held out an olive branch yesterday," says The Mirror, "to the French Environment Minister who branded him a `male chauvinist`." Deputy prime minister Mr Prescott stirred up controversy on Sunday when he told press that French monister Dominique Voyne had scuppered a global environmental agreement between Europe and the USA because she had got "cold feet" and was "too tired" to understand. "I find it disgraceful he should question a woman`s ability to work," Mme Voyne responded. "I deplore the fact that John Prescott used a base male chauvinist argument that because a woman is tired, she is afraid and doesn`t know what is going on." "When challenged in the House of Commons to explain how the crucial negotiations in The Hague had broken down," reports The Independent, "the Deputy Prime Minister displayed his own version of the Gallic shrug. `Macho man moi?` he said to the laughter of MPs." "I have worked and negotiated with Dominique Voynet for three years now," he said in an effort to defuse the situation while offering no apology. "Her commitment to securing an agreement is as passionate as mine. We will both work together to ensure that agreement is reached." But President Chirac, who is due to dine with Tony Blair on Thursday evening, has stated that Mme Voyne`s handling of the situation was "perfect" and even her opposition party has offered its support. "She fought to the end," says Gaullist Serge Lepeltier in The Telegraph, dismissing Mr Prescott`s insults as "not the behaviour of a gentleman". [... more]

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