Wednesday night saw the House magazine parliamentary awards ceremony take place, in which as previously mentioned on VB, Isle of Wight MP, Andrew Turner was shortlisted.
MPs and peers voted for the winners, with the press deciding who would win Minister of the year.
Labour MP Tom Watson took the award for Commons Select Committee Member Of The Year for using his membership of the culture committee to push for further investigation of the phone hacking allegations.
David Davis, presenting the award to Watson, said he is proof that “a select committee member can turn the world upside down”.
Events over the past few days pay testament to that, not to mention the power of Twitter and social media in general.
Constituency MP of the Year Award
Unfortunately for Andrew Turner, we’re told that he narrowly missed winning the Constituency MP of the Year Award.
He was nominated “For the Isle of Wight concession on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. In July 2010 the Isle of Wight MP led the OneWight campaign that saw almost 20,000 people sign a petition that successfully lobbied the government to keep the Isle of Wight one single constituency.”
Confusion over wording of nomination
We were a little puzzled by the wording of the nomination, given that back in February, Parliament voted to split the Isle of Wight into two constituencies from the next election.
We asked for Dods for clarification on the nomination wording and they replied ….
Also nominated for Constituency MP of the Year was Isle of Wight MP Andrew Turner. Mr Turner was nominated by readers of the House Magazine for his ‘One Wight’ campaign that sought to halt part of the island being presided over by a mainland MP.
His nomination reflects his determination that saw the Commons vote through a concession that allowed the Isle of Wight to be split into two constituencies allowing for the Isle of Wight to maintain its unique status.
Other awards
A number of other awards were presented to MPs on the night. Congratulations to the following.
- Constituency MP of the year- Angela Smith MP
- Technology or social media user of the year – Kerry McCarthy MP
- Commons speech of the year – David Crausby MP, speech on the debate on the military covenant
- Peer of the year – Lord Taylor of Holbeach
- Commons minister of the year – Iain Duncan Smith MP
Image: © Paul Hartfield
