Parliamentarian of the Year: the winners
The 20th annual Parliamentarian of the Year awards, sponsored by The Spectator and by Zurich Financial Services, were presented
by the Health Secretary. the Rt Hon. Dr John Reid MP, the guest of honour at the awards presentation luncheon held at Claridge's hotel, London. The guests were welcomed by Sandy Leitch, chief executive of Zurich Financial Services. Boris Johnson, editor of The Spectator and chairman of the judges, read out the judges' choices and the reasons for them.
Peer of the Year: The Rt Hon. The Lord Strathclyde Not since the dying days of the Callaghan government have the Tory peers inflicted such sustained damage on the government's programme, with a total of 70 defeats at the time of going to press. Strathclyde is their commander-in-chief, and by all accounts a doughty campaigner. The judges were especially impressed by his command of all manner of technical subjects, his charm and his willingness to dispense large whiskies to those who called round to see him in his room. He is the last best hope of the hereditary peers, and it is only an accident of birth that has prevented him from being — in the view of at least one judge — a candidate for the leadership of the party.
Backbencher of the Year: Ann Clwyd, MP Few MPs, apart from the Speaker, have the power to bring the House of Commons to silence. Such was the achievement of Ann Clwyd. who has spoken so passionately about the fate of the Kurds, and from such direct and personal experience, that it was sometimes hard to tell whether her voice was choking from emotion or from the dust of Iraq. Some judges said that her arguments may have been emotive tosh, but they were none the less forceful for that. Above all, she didn't bother herself with arguments about the Weapons of Mass Destruction. She left the Prime Minister to make that mistake. Ann Clwyd made the best possible case for removing Saddam Hussein, that it would relieve the Iraqis of a brutal tyrant; and for that she deserves thanks.
Minister to Watch: Christopher Leslie, MP This man was so young at the time of his stunning election to Shipley in 1997 that he was forced to abandon a university course halfway through. His early appearances in the Commons were punctuated by Tory calls that he was 'past his bedtime', and that he should 'go home to mother'. He has since put such critics to shame; he is a fluent and accom plished minister in the Department of Constitutional Affairs, and yet with the intellectual humility to recognise some of the absurdities in the government's programme of reform. It is said that the Prime Minister took a personal interest and pleasure in his re-election in 2001, and marked him down as a potential successor but one. If he can survive that, he can survive anything.
Zurich award: The Rt Hon. lain Macleod, MP With their lust for innovation and progress, the judges this year have created a new category: the Zurich Award, named in honour of our sponsors, which is intended to signal the appreciation, by current parliamentarians, for the most notable parliamentary performers over the last 175 years. MPs were asked to vote. We are told that strong support was entered in favour of Lord Tebbit and Hugh Gaitskell. The winner, however, was lain Macleod, a former chancellor of the exchequer and editor of this magazine. Congratulations are due to George Osborne, who nominated Macleod, and who therefore receives £1,000 for his constituency association.
Parliamentarian of the Year: The Rt Ham Michael Howard, QC, MP The judges wish it to be clearly understood that this award was decided before there was the faintest whiff of a coup in the upper reaches of the Tory party. There cannot be the slightest suggestion of greasing, or jobbery, or sucking-up. Michael Howard receives this year's most prestigious award for the simple reason that he has proved himself a master at the Despatch Box. His most important contribution, it is generally agreed, was his reply to Gordon Brown's budget.
Survivor of the Year: Crispin Blunt, MP Many of us were brought up with tales of heroism in the first world war. Officers would tuck their swagger sticks under their arms, blow their whistles and leap over the top. The others would suddenly discover something fascinating at the bottom of the trench, or that they had lost a contact lens, or that they had an urgent need to tie their shoelaces. Such was the fate of this man, who found himself in no-man's-land in May, and coming under a great deal of fire, after calling for a change in the Tory leadership. As befits a man from a distinguished military family, he acted bravely, and it is the hope of the judges that this award should not be politically posthumous.
Speech of the Year: The Rt Hon. Robin Cook MP It is with a sense of awful predictability that the judges once again recognise the achievements of this year's honorand. He has won so many gongs at these ceremonies that it may be necessary, if Zurich are willing, to present him with some kind of permanent trophy, of the kind that the All England Lawn Tennis Club once gave Bjorn Borg. Robin Cook made a principled resignation and a brilliant speech. There can be no doubt that his oratory made life considerably more difficult for the government on 18 March. Had the whips not been as ruthless as they were, Parliament would not have given a mandate for war, and history might have been very different. Mr Cook was also a distinguished Leader of the Commons, who did not hesitate to point out the deficiencies in the government's programme of reform of the Upper House. The judges quarrelled only with his bizarre decision to recall Parliament for two weeks in September.
The judges were: Simon Hoggart and Michael White of the Guardian, Frank Johnson and George Jones of the Daily Telegraph, Trevor Kavanagh of the Sun, Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, Anne McElvoy of the Evening Standard, Ben Mcintyre of the Times. Peter Oborne of The Spectator and Alan Watkins of the Independent.
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