The Deputy Prime Minister, who was understood to be in Hull trying to patch things up with his wife, was due to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting with the Prime Minister and other senior ministers.
His expected return to London comes after the Gove
rnment suffered one of its most difficult days as three of its senior ministers were embroiled in scandal and controversy.
Deportation
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt was heckled and jeered by nurses at a conference of the Royal College of Nursing over the Government's reforms to the NHS.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke faces calls to resign – from the opposition parties and on his own back bench – over the scandal of released foreign prisoners who should have been considered for deportation.
And in a fresh development, Mr Clarke could face even more trouble after it was claimed that as many as 1,500 more current prisoners could be foreign nationals but the Prison Service does not know for sure.
Mr Blair was holding his weekly Cabinet meeting where he was expected to try to hold his team together despite the storm of the past 24 hours.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Government is about dealing with unforeseen events and the important thing is, do you have the capacity to respond to events and do you have the capacity to implement the manifesto on which a Government was elected and the vision to keep that going despite events?
"You don't underestimate the impact of events, but you don't allow them to distract you from the big picture."
Fresh revelations about Mr Prescott's relationship with his secretary Tracey Temple appear in national newspapers today which add to his embarrassment
There have also been criticism over the possible abuse of Mr Prescott's ministerial privileges with claims that an official ministerial car was used to transport Ms Temple and also over the use of a country home.
The crisis comes just one week before the local elections which are being seen by many as a test of confidence in Mr Blair.
anne.alexander@ypn.co.uk
