Update: Tom Watson has contacted us to say that he’s genuinely touched to be our inaugural MP of the year:
“I’m genuinely touched by this award. Coming from Labour activists, it means a lot. Pls thank your readers.”
As part of our 2011 survey we asked you who your Labour MP of the year had been. The result is unlikely to surprise many of you. The winner was our first MP of the month back in July, won the award again in November, and despite only joining the shadow cabinet in October he topped the shadow cabinet rankings for the end of the year too. The winner of LabourList’s MP of the year – as voted for by you – is Tom Watson.
Watson fought a crusade against News International for years, and his focus on phone hacking and bringing those responsible to justice has been relentless. Few could have forseen the impact his campaign would have, but Tom never wavered – and you’ve clearly seen something you admire in that, as have we.
Here’s a clip of one of his recent speeches in the house on phone hacking:
743 people voted in our end of year survey between December 23rd and January 2nd – thanks to everyone who took part.
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