A LINDFORD woman has this week been revealed as having had a two-year affair with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Tracey Temple, 43, of Cricket Lea, had a relationship with Mr Prescott while working as his assistant private secretary. The pair started meeting in secret at his government-owned Whitehall flat after their fling began at an office Christmas party in 2002. Neighbours and close friends of Miss Temple told The Herald of their shock and surprise at the revelations. Neighbour Trevor Mandeville said: "You could have knocked me down with a feather when I heard it this morning on the radio. I couldn't believe they were talking about the same Tracey. "She has always been a very pleasant and bright girl and it doesn't seem in her nature to do something like this. "I used to walk her dog for her when she was at work and you never would have guessed that she was up to no good. It's a real surprise. "Tracey even got me John Prescott's autograph a couple of years ago. It's no wonder how she managed to do that now, is it?" "Being a Labour man, I don't think what they have done is very nice. I feel sorry for her boyfriend and for his wife and kids." Miss Temple's boyfriend, lorry driver Barry Williams of Loweswater Gardens, Bordon, told The Scotsman of his devastation upon hearing the news. The 46-year-old said: "I feel sick. I just can't believe that my darling Tracey has been sleeping with John Prescott behind my back. "I've been betrayed by one of the most powerful men in the UK. "How dare he split up my relationship with the woman I'd planned to marry." Mr Williams told how his suspicions of the affair were aroused earlier this month when he found suspicious texts on Ms Temple's mobile phone. He'd revealed he'd even developed copies of a film of Tracey dancing with Mr Prescott and undoing his shirt at a departmental Christmas party and thought nothing about it. The pictures show Mr Prescott slinging her over his shoulder after dancing with her for most of the evening in an event that had alarmed and disturbed civil service colleagues. Mr Williams added: "They were all over each other but I put it down to messing about. "But knowing what I do now, I can't look at the photos without feeling sick to the core. She even had the cheek to ask me to marry her just two days after they first had sex. Perhaps she was feeling guilty. I'm just glad that we hadn't got round to tying the knot." He added that he felt sorry for Mr Prescott's wife Pauline because, like him, she would have had no idea what had been going on. He also admitted that he could not hate Ms Temple because he thought she had been "caught up in a crazed power trip". The MP for Hull East told a national newspaper on Wednesday that he deeply regretted the relationship, which had ended nearly two years ago The 67 year old said: "I did have a relationship with her which I regret. "I have discussed this fully with my wife Pauline, who is devastated by the news. I would be grateful if we can get on with our lives together." Miss Temple had special responsibility for organising Mr Prescott's diary, and had previously undertaken the same role for former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, who died last year. Jean Addison, of Liphook Road, has known the family for many years. She said: "She was a quiet girl, a proper Bordon girl, who kept herself to herself." "I grew up with her mother and it seems out of character for her to do something like that." Neighbour Moira Packham's son used to play with Tracey and her twin sister Mandy at Mill Chase School in Bordon. She said " I have known Tracey since she was a little girl. "She was in a right little gang with her sister and my son when they were 13-14 years old, but Tracey was always the sensible one. It does seem odd. "But at least we have finally got a bit of a celebrity living here in Bordon!"