The dramatic political effect of Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's inheritance tax announcement has been recognised today by The Spectator's annual parliamentary awards. Mr Osborne has been made politician of the year for what Fraser Nelson, the magazine's Political Editor, believes was "the single most effective policy ever announced by the Conservatives in Opposition".
William Hague is also recognised. His speech on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery wins him the speech of the year award. BritainAndAmerica covered it at the time. It was a great speech.
Baroness Thatcher is Peer of the Year. The Spectator have recognised the year in which everyone wanted to be seen with the Iron Lady... most notably Gordon Brown but also Rudy Giuliani. Her impact on Britain still recognised as profound.
Iain Duncan Smith's remarkable political rehabilitation has also been recognised by The Spectator. The former Tory leader is the magazine's Campaigner of the year for his success at putting social justice at the heart of the public debate. I'm in Washington DC with Philippa Stroud and Cameron Watt of the Centre for Social Justice for a conference on poverty-fighting. We'll raise a glass of bubbly to Iain later.
Other award winners:
- Nick Clegg, newcomer
- Liam Byrne, minister to watch
- Alex Salmond, parliamentarian of the year
- Tony Blair, resignation of the year
- Ian Paisley, "marathon man"!
Related link: Last year's Spectator awards
Very well deserved by Mr Osborne who was able to inflict a major wound on the Labour government and made Labour eat humble pie as they had to play catch-up.
Posted by: Tony Makara | November 15, 2007 at 16:51
Editor:I'm in Washington DC with Philippa Stroud and Cameron Watt of the Centre for Social Justice for a conference on poverty-fighting. We'll raise a glass of bubbly to Iain later.
That would be fair trade champagne, I take it?
Posted by: William Norton | November 15, 2007 at 16:54
William Norton - Fairtrade champagne?! I think the French farmers do pretty well already out of the CAP?!
Posted by: Robert Thompson | November 15, 2007 at 17:33
Given that Salmond wishes to dismantle the Parliament of 'The United Kingdom'. his award as 'Parliamentarian' of the year is a joke in very poor taste.
Posted by: The Huntsman | November 15, 2007 at 17:33
I do hope that DAVID DAVIS was given a GLORIOUS reception.
Posted by: DavisFan | November 15, 2007 at 18:47
Surprise surprise the BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7097341.stm) focuses on Alex Salmond and his "brilliant campaign" in Scotland!
Posted by: chrisblore | November 15, 2007 at 20:15
I can't understand why so much was made of Lady Thatcher's visit to Number 10 - it was spun as though she hadn't visited in Tony Blair's day or John Major's day and that it was some sort of endorsement of Gordon Brown. She clearly looked irritated when she left Number 10 and was asked if she's joined the Labour Party!
It says something about the BBC, I reckon.
Posted by: Votedave | November 15, 2007 at 20:19
So why isn't IDS in the Shadow Cabinet? He has shown himself to be a man of integrity, although I disagreed with him on Iraq, and intelligence. He deserved to be politician of the year. The unprincipled and lightweight Osborne gambled and got lucky. D'Ancona is a Cameroon groupie and was sucking up to Dave as usual.
Posted by: Moral minority | November 15, 2007 at 23:44
Mr Osborne has been made politician of the year for what Fraser Nelson, the magazine's Political Editor, believes was "the single most effective policy ever announced by the Conservatives in Opposition".
Did he mean since 1997 or ever, there have been a lot of policy announcements over the years, I think that Inheritance Tax should be scrapped, but to say that it is the most effective policy ever announced in opposition by the Conservatives is a very bold statement, it wasn't wholesale abolition and there was a lot of dithering of it, politically Gordon Brown really got himself into trouble by allowing election speculation to continue without saying from the start that there was no reason for an election so early - it's still only 2.5 years into the parliament with the General Election almost certain to be on 11 June 2009. If Labour had gone for a General Election this Autumn they would have been seen by the electorate as cutting & running and would have quite possibly lost their majority whatever the opinion polls were saying.
Posted by: Yet Another Anon | November 15, 2007 at 23:55
What!, no Dick of the Year award.
Please may i nominate a ConHome special prize for Dick of the Year, the winner is......Prezza, who shares with Gordo the Great.
Posted by: George Hinton | November 16, 2007 at 10:38
Liam Byrne is only worth watching because the demise of his career over the increasingly frequent immigration scandals will be so gloriously painful for the Labour Party. Seriously, I can't believe he won that.
http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
Posted by: Letters From A Tory | November 16, 2007 at 11:24
Was there any justification for giving Byrne anything? I heard him interviewed after the first immigration fiasco, he was uncomfortable and defensive as well he might be.He didn't defend himself with much skill in my opinion.
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | November 16, 2007 at 12:43
I don't understand why George Osborne is being applauded. Most of us wanted tax cut announcements ages ago. He gets cfredit for doing the bleeding obvious! Nice work if you can get it :)
Posted by: Alan S | November 16, 2007 at 14:44
Most of us wanted tax cut announcements ages ago. He gets cfredit for doing the bleeding obvious!
The thing is that he's still committed to sticking within Labour's spending plans for years to come, while he remains so he is stuck in a strait jacket, either money for tax cuts comes from other taxes, or borrowing, or greater economic growth and given the importance of balancing the budget which has been hugely in deficit for too long his room for manoeuvre is limited.
Posted by: Yet Another Anon | November 16, 2007 at 22:55
I don't understand why George Osborne is being applauded. Most of us wanted tax cut announcements ages ago. He gets credit for doing the bleeding obvious! Nice work if you can get it :)
The difference is Mr Osborne had the political sense to announce them at the right time, and to the right extent.
If he'd listened to the suggestions of half the party, it'd be the 2005 general election all over again. Disastrous.
Posted by: Stephen Haraldsen | November 17, 2007 at 11:24
How do you know it was the inheritance tax cut announcement which produced the Tory bounce in the polls? How do you know it wasn't another policy announced at the same time? Or the end of Brown's honeymoon. The idea that a significant proportion of voters will be so overjoyed by a policy which would benefit an already priveleged few is absurd. I think most people are aware that inheritence tax is the most progressive tax bar none.
In between all the back slapping ask yourselves -- how do you know?
Posted by: Ian Hart | November 18, 2007 at 11:00