The Wardman Wire

With Parliament rising for their Christmas holidays on Thursday, it is time to present the inaugural Garbo Political Review of the Year Awards! There is nothing scientific about these awards, no one has voted in them and there was no independent adjudicator. The BBC would be proud.

Politician of the Year Award: Eric Pickles
The man who masterminded some of the most spectacular by-election wins we have seen for some time – and possibly the Tories have ever seen, the winner of Politician of the Year goes to Eric Pickles. Pickles is down to earth and a campaigning genius. He is not your average Tory and I am amazed he is not used more often in the media – he has mass appeal. The damage he did to Labour in Crewe and Nantwich very nearly toppled the Prime Minister and he has helped set the Tories on the way to being electable for the first time since 1992. Pickles needs to be brought back into the front line as soon as possible to start attacking the government again or all his good work earlier this year could be undone and the Tories will have to wait another 5 years for a shot at power again.

Man of the People MP award: Tom Harris
The man oozes common sense, is not afraid to say what he means and has taken what was a very foolish cabinet reshuffle extremely well. Mr Harris is the best blogging MP out there by a country mile and has that quality that so many MPs lack – the common touch. It may well be wishing for too much, but I hope Tom makes it into cabinet one day. There are few politicians with his expertise and common sense – with Malcolm Wicks is one of those few.

The Gordon Brown Bottler of the Year Award: David Miliband
Brown and bottler were words that went synonymously together. Well not anymore, the mantle has been passed to the man that would be PM – David Miliband. Remember him? Miliband umm’d and urr’d, plotted and schemed, yet when it came to putting the knife in, he bottled it. Who knows where the Labour party would be right now if he had gone ahead with a challenge, but you can be sure that Miliband would not be whimpering behind the scenes like he is now had he gone for it. Will he ever get another chance? Perhaps. Will anyone want to back him now he has shown his true colours? I doubt it.

Comeback of the Year Award: Peter Mandelson
The Prince of Darkness. It is no coincidence, I believe, that the return of Mandy also marked the incredible recovery of the Labour party in the latter part of the year. Love him or loathe him, the man is a master of the dark arts of spin, a political heavy weight with key areas of the media in his pocket and has made last year’s Spectator politician of the Year, George Osborne, look like a lost schoolboy. The man responsible for making Labour electable again in the mid 1990s, is looking like he might make Labour electable again in 2010. Quite extraordinary. (If he can keep himself out of trouble that is!).

Fool of the Year Award: George Osborne
There can only be one man in the running for this: George Osborne. What one earth was he thinking by taking on Peter Mandelson? I bet he wishes he had never set eyes on that yacht. Osborne broke two simple rules on that fateful summer holiday: he made public an off the record private conversation and he went in for the kill with Mandelson without being able to finish off the job. What amazes me most is that he had Mandelson onside.  The man dripped poison about Brown and is known to dislike the PM, yet he decided instead of using this to his advantage by causing trouble from within, he pushed Mandelson closer to Brown. Osborne has still not recovered. Question marks remain as to whether he ever will.  What a fool.

Misjudgment of the Year: David Davis
David Davis and the resignation that backfired wins him the award for wild misjudgment. The champion of civil liberties or the opportunistic failure? I sense the latter – if he wanted to make an issue of 42 days he was in the best place to do it: Shadow Home Secretary. He made a fool of Cameron and almost caused serious trouble for the Tories. As it happened, everyone just ignored him and the by election passed off with virtually no comment or incident. As expected, the Lords did the job that Davis failed to do. All that is left is what now for Davis? Another leadership challenge for the man so desperate to be in the spot light as soon things go wrong for Cameron?

Should have resigned long ago award: Michael Martin
The Commons Speaker Michael Martin wins this one hands down! The accusations of bias have been flying around ever since he got the job after Boothroyd sadly stood down. But it was the expenses row and then the arrest of Damian Green that must surely seal the fate for this clown?

The “Whats-his-name-again” for Parliamentary Irrelevance award: Nick Clegg
When the Lib Dems were electing their new leader post Ming I was a supporter of Clegg. He looked like he fitted the bill. Then he got his knickers in a twist when Huhn started to get a bit boisterous in the closing parts of the campaign and I had my doubts. Clegg won and his first year in charge has been a disaster. The Lib Dems, far from capitalising on disillusionment with the main parties, have actually been put in reverse. Clegg is a laughing stock at PMQs and an irrelevance in the media. I don’t care how many women you’ve shagged Nick, you have failed with your party miserably.

Wild Claim of the year award: Gordon Brown:
There are two candidates here: Clegg for his sexual prowess is just shaded by Gordon Brown’s claims that he has saved the world.  You could not make it up!

International Politician of the Year Award: Barack Obama
There can only be one winner for this award. The man who had the audacity of hope, the most inspirational speaker the world has seen in many a year and a man who has shown integrity, honesty and brought some real excitement and flair back into politics. When Brown says he has saved the world you laugh, when people claim Obama could do it, you are filled with hope and belief.  Whether he can or not remains to be seen, but I would not have any other person give it a shot.  “Out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people.Yes We Can.“  Now that is an America and a world I want to be part of. Barack Obama I salute you.