In summary, here are the ten Picks Of 2012 as chosen by readers...

By Tim Montgomerie
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Rounding off our Picks of the Year - as voted for by readers the last two winners are...

The u-turn of the year was the pasty tax - voted for by 46.7% of ConHome respondents. The coming U-turn on Heathrow's third runway was second with 33.5% of votes.

Gaffe of the year was Aidan Burley Tweeting about "multicultural crap" during the Olympics Opening Ceremony. It won 30.4% of the vote. Chloe Smith's infamous Newsnight appearance received 29.8% and Nadine Dorries going on I Am A Celebrity won 24.0%.

The previous eight winners were...

• Scrap of the year: Between the parliamentary party and the Tory leadership (on multiple fronts);
• Conservative Minister of the year: Education Secretary Michael Gove;
• Event of the year: The rise of UKIP;
• Policy of the year: The benefits cap;
• One To Watch of the year: Owen Paterson;
• Conservative achievement of the year: Boris Johnson's re-election;
• Yellow B**tard of the year: Nick Clegg;
• Tory backbencher of the year: Jesse Norman.