Prescott disputes lover's claims

John Prescott has hit back after his former mistress released details of their affair in a Sunday newspaper.

The recollections of Tracy Temple, his diary secretary, were "simply untrue" and she had been "motivated by a desire to maximise financial gain", Mr Prescott said.

Ms Temple told the Mail on Sunday how the pair had sex in the deputy prime minister's office in Whitehall after attending an Iraq memorial service.

She also said they had been together in a hotel room while his wife Pauline waited for them downstairs. Regular sexual meetings took place in his office when the door was open, she said.

But Ms Temple added that she felt abandoned by Mr Prescott when news of the affair broke earlier this week.

"I feel I have been used and am being used as a scapegoat," she said. "They have abandoned me and hung me out to dry. I have been left completely alone."

In a statement, Mr Prescott said he had "acted stupidly" and he appealed for privacy so that he could try to rebuild his marriage.

Through celebrity publicist Max Clifford, Ms Temple sold her story to the Mail for more than £100,000, it has been reported.

But she appeared tearful in a video statement released last night, saying: "I was not responsible for this story.

"I've had to live with the lies and the misinformation that was actually written about me, causing damage to my reputation and possibly my future career," she said.

"Therefore, as a result, I felt I needed to tell my side of the story and let people know the truth. But I never, ever thought that I would have had to do anything like this."

A political rival of Mr Prescott probably leaked the story to the press, Ms Temple said.