Blogger of 2010

Jonathan Isaby's pick: There is an argument for giving a lifetime achievement award for blogging to the pioneering Iain Dale, who did of course write the final entry in Iain Dale's Diary earlier this month. But my pick this year goes to the blogger who Tim Montgomerie nominated in this category last year, the Conservative MP, John Redwood. Posting without fail every morning, he continues to provide highly informed commentary and analysis on the economy, Europe and whichever matters of the moment he feels the urge to blog about. It remains essential reading.

Tim Montgomerie's pick: We have plenty of political blogs that analyse policy. Plenty that mock political personalities. Plenty that obsess about opinion polls. But Britain doesn't have many blogs that take campaigning seriously. In America politics is conducted professionally. Opinion polls, marketing and messaging are pursued by lifetime experts. In James Frayne's Campaign War Room the UK blogosphere has a blog that takes campaigning seriously and it's brilliantly written. I'll give a mention to Mark Wallace's Crash, Bang, Wallace blog too. Well worth adding to your favourites if you haven't already done so. When Iain Dale 'retired' (I predict temporarily) he said that Mark could be his natural replacement... although a little more right-wing!

Paul Goodman's pick: Writing well, thinking originally and breaking stories are essential to a widely-read blog. Cranmer has been off-line for part of the year in what appear to have been trying circumstances.  But he's been back for the best part of three months or so now, observing the world as sharply and as ever, getting first to the news of Katharine Birbalsingh's sacking, and digging out some gems from Hansard (see here).  A footnote: my twitterer of the year would be David Jones MP, who's grasped, as I have not, that to master the art no detail is too trivial to tweet.

Harry Phibbs' pick: Dan Hannan has an erudite and elegantly written blog which, as all good blogs should, is fearless in challenging establishment orthodoxies. His position as a Euro MP leaves him with no shortage of material.

> This is the final of the team's Picks of 2010. Click on this category link to scroll through all of our selections.