SPECTATOR HIGHLAND PARK AWARDS
Parliamentarian of the year: the winners
THE TWELFTH annual Highland Park/Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards took place on Wednesday. The awards were presented by the Rt Hon. Mr Roy Hattersley, MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook, guest of honour, at a lunch at the Savoy Hotel. The guests were wel- comed by Mr Brian Ivory on behalf of Matthew Gloag and Son Ltd. The chair- man of the judges, Mr Frank Johnson, edi- tor of The Spectator, read out the judges' remarks and citations.
Parliamentarian of the Year: Mr Richard Shepherd, MP for Aldridge- Brownhills.
The judges agreed that, in a sense, there were really nine parliamentarians of the year. They were the nine Conservative whipless ones. The Government banished them. After only a few months, it was the Government which appeared to give way by granting them an unconditional amnesty. But we saw practical difficulties in award- ing all nine. All might insist on making acceptance speeches. Mr Tony Marlow might have worn his blazer. In the end we decided on one of their number. During their months in the wilderness, he was the most consistent in his willingness to con- tinue to vote against the Government. Eventually, he crowned his defiance of the whips by defying — over Nolan — a majority of his fellow Conservative back- benchers. He shows no interest in holding office other than on his own terms. Yet all agree that he could hold with distinction any job in the Government apart from Chief Whip.'
Debater of the Year The Rt Hon. Michael Howard, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, Home Secretary.
`The Opposition had put down a motion adversely criticising the Home Secretary in his conduct of the Prison Ser- vice, in particular his dismissal of the director of that Service, Mr Derek Lewis. Unfortunately, the Opposition had not made up their minds about whether they would have dismissed Mr Lewis too. This was established, about a quarter of the way through the main Opposition speech, by a back-bench intervention from Mr Bernard Jenkin, Conservative Member for Colchester North. If there were an award for Interrupter of the Year, he would win it. But the Home Secretary still had to rout the Opposition which he proceeded to do by showing that they had not really thought things through. As one of the judges wrote at the time, they seemed to think that a leak to the Guardian was enough to bring down a minister. It proved not to be the case.' Backbencher of the Year. The Rt Hon. John Redwood, MP for Wokingham.
`In fact, the winner was not a backbencher for the entire year. It could be argued that he is the only parliamentarian in living memory who has left the Government and gone to the back benches in order to become famous. But he has also added to the back- bench store of intelligence, and to the belief that, irrespective of whether one agrees with them, ideas are part of politics too.'
Member to Watch: Mr Donald Dewar, MP for Glasgow Garscadden.
`Member to Watch is the award which perhaps brings out most the competitive- ness of all these ambitious parliamentari- ans. There is intense competition not to win it. But, looking back on previous win- ners, it does not seem to be the case that it always leads to the ruin of a career. Since his election in 1978, this year's win- ner has already had a career as one of the most articulate members of the Com- mons. Yet now he has been given a job which requires him to be silent in the Chamber. There has been nothing like it since a Sunday Telegraph editor in the early Sixties, in the hope of bringing a fresh mind to the subject, wanted to make T.E Utley television critic. T.E Utley was, of course, blind.' Campaigner of the Year The Rt Hon. Paddy Ashdown, MP for Yeovil.
`In the late 1870s, when a Liberal leader was outraged by the Bulgarian horrors, what first outraged him were similar horrors com- mitted in Bosnia. Gladstone appealed to the Conservative Prime Minister of the day, Dis- raeli, to take action in the name of some- thing which sounds similar to today's United Nations or Nato: what Gladstone called "a European conscience expressed by the col- lective guarantee and action of the European powers". But there was a crucial difference between Gladstone and the Member of Par- liament we are about to award. Historians now tell us that Gladstone was part of a huge popular agitation. He did not start it. But in campaigning against today's Bosnian hor- rors, there was no discernible electoral popu- larity for Mr Paddy Ashdown.'
Special Award: Baroness Seear and Baroness Trumpington.
`The judges were determined this year to award a parliamentarian, or more than one parliamentarian, whose always meritorious service would make them a Parliamentari- an of the Year in any year. They are hard to find. But the judges had two names in mind. In fact, they had the names in mind before they invented the award to fit them, which is why they invented that of Specially Meritorious Service in the House of Lords. The first is a Liberal Democrat Baroness who has never been known not to have an opinion on any subject on Question Time and Any Questions, or in the Upper House to which she has added intellectual distinc- tion since she entered it in 1971. The sec- ond is a Baroness of supreme confidence in the dispatch of business who is the second longest serving member of the present Government. She has been known to address the Upper House, not as "My Lords" but as "My Dears" — giving rise to speculation among the judges as to how this would have been understood had a man done so. The special award for Meritorious Service in the House of Lords goes jointly to Baroness Seear and Baroness Trumpington. Baroness Trumpington cannot be with us because she is recovering from a successful operation and Baroness Seear will receive the award on behalf of both.'
The judges of the awards were: Elinor Good- man of ITN, Alan Watkins of the Independent on Sunday, Michael White of the Guardian, Matthew Parris of the Tunes, George Jones of the Daily Telegraph, Andrew Marr of the Inde- pendent, and Geoffrey Parkhouse of the Glas- gow Herald. The judges want to repeat that their awards do not claim any superior authority. They are offered only in affection and respect for the Houses of Parliament.
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