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What he describes as a punch in the stomach might seem to John Prescott just a

What he describes as a punch in the stomach might seem to John Prescott just a jab, but he says it was a punch."After the dousing by Danbert Nobacon, Mr Prescott complained at the weekend that it seemed to be "open season" against him after reports alleging that he had failed to declare pounds 27,000 from the Joseph Rowntree Trust.Sir Norman Fowler, Mr Prescott's Tory shadow, last night pursued the allegation by calling for an investigation in a letter to Sir Gordon Downey, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.A spokesman for the trust said yesterday that Mr Prescott had approached the trust to fund a programme of research by Bruce Millan, the former European Commissioner for the regions, into regional policy.Mr Prescott's aides yesterday explained the circumstances to Sir Gordon's office. "What they want is an apology published in the magazine, a statement in open court publicly retracting the allegations and an undertaking we won't republish the defamation."We are expecting a writ tomorrow We are not going to apologise I have spoken to Jerry Hayes about this Jerry Hayes is half the size of John Prescott. "He is certainly not ruling out the question of suing."Mr Prescott, who learned to handle himself when he was in the Merchant Navy, recently demonstrated his self-control at the Brit awards when a member of the pop group Chumbawumba sought to gain publicity by throwing a bucket of water of him.He was not in a forgiving mood following the incident. Littlewoods said there had been a fantastic response to the scheme.. IT could be seconds out today for a libel action pitching John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, in the red corner, against the diminutive former Tory MP, Jerry Hayes, in the blue corner. Mr Prescott may affectionately have been called "thumper" by his friends in the 1980s, but he is threatening to sue Mr Hayes for claiming he hit the Tory MP when Labour was in opposition. Mr Prescott's solicitors have warned that unless an apology is forthcoming, a writ would be issued for the allegation by Mr Hayes, now a political gossip columnist for Mohamed Al Fayed's Punch magazine.The Deputy Prime Minister strongly denies hitting Mr Hayes in the stomach playfully or otherwise in the members' lobby of the House of Commons after Mr Hayes made some unflaterring comments about him on the radio."It's just not true so he will be seeking an apology," said one of Mr Prescott's friends. Park House is run by the Leonard Cheshire Foundation as a hotel for disabled people and their carers while West Heath may become a centre for traumatised young people.Christopher Spence, chairman of the trust's grants committee, said of the allocation of funds: "Careful consideration has been given by the board of trustees to our first disbursement and we are confident in the selection and size of these grants."n More than 250,000 Princess Diana scratchcards were sold yesterday when they went on sale for the first time, it was reported last night.

Barry Brooking, chief executive, said his charity would be applying for funds - but questioned the distribution of the cash."The PDS fully understands the emphasis given to the six causes which Diana supported up until the time of her death, and the attention given to the landmines issues and the Sweet Pea Appeal," he said."We are, however, a little surprised that pounds 8m has been allocated to just eight causes whereas pounds 5m will be shared among 100 more."Organisations have been asked to submit applications for grants under the criteria "vulnerable young people", "children", "socially excluded" and "survivors". The remaining charities - more than 100 - shared pounds 5m.Last night, the way in which the money was awarded immediately caused controversy. Decisions on the amounts for each charity will be announced early in the summer.The trustees have also disclosed that they are giving "sympathetic consideration" to Park House, the late princess's home on the Sandringham Estate, and West Heath, her former school in Kent. Criticism was made by the Parkinson's Disease Society, which had the late princess as its patron until July 1996. Six - Centrepoint, the English National Ballet, the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, the Leprosy Mission, the National Aids Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Trust - of which the princess was patron or president at the time of her death, received pounds 1m each. Another pounds 1m was distributed to groups dealing with people affected by landmines and a similar amount was given to the Osteopathic Centre for Children in recognition of the fact that the princess was due to have launched its Sweet Pea Appeal next September.

MORE THAN 100 charities covering everything from the arts to Aids yesterday received money in the first round of grants from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. A total of pounds 13m was distributed to the princess's favourite charities. Since the election of a Labour government he has roughed up the rail industry - considered by many of privatisation's critics to have been given an easy ride by the previous Conservative administration.He has attacked Railtrack for "wholly unacceptable" spending on maintenance, fined train companies for the poor service provided by the telephone enquiry bureau and highlighted the mis- selling of train tickets.. "It brought home to me how important it is to retain morale in the people we ask to run these trains in the face of murderous attempts by youngsters who should know better."Mr Swift does not shirk a fight. Three years ago, they had successfully lobbied to get the Ribble Valley service reinstated.According to Mr Swift: "We were tootling along and I was admiring the scenery and suddenly there were two shattering crashes ... It was an alarming and all too frequent indication of how the security if the railways and the people travelling on them must continue to be of prime concern."Tough on crime and tougher on those who commit offences, Mr Swift was quick to attack - verbally - the vandals. But last week, the railways' fat controller could have been forgiven for wishing it had never been built.