John Armstrong: Parliamentary awards

Cabinet Minister of the Year

Michael Cullen. A rock of stability and an oasis of calm in the fraught world of minority government, he remained indispensable to Helen Clark as the Government's back-room negotiator, most notably on the foreshore and seabed issue.

This year's Budget, with its help for working families, was another personal triumph, satisfying the Finance Minister's need to maintain fiscal credibility but also reflecting Cullen's deep social democratic ethos.

High marks also to Paul Swain. A safe pair of hands juggling the tricky portfolios of Labour, Immigration and Corrections. The Prime Minister could not ask for anything more. The time has come for him to be given a bigger bone to chew on. Maybe he'll get one in next week's reshuffle.

Also deserving of mention is David Benson-Pope, even if many people will still ask "David who?". Thrust into the Cabinet a mere 10 months ago, the Dunedin MP has quickly developed a reputation as a fix-it minister, steering the Civil Union Bill through Parliament and deftly handling changes to the Resource Management Act.

He is someone whose moderate tones and carefully weighted arguments can take the steam out of an issue. He is also tough - and can be unnecessarily abrasive at times.

Benson-Pope gets a big black mark for annoying the heck out of United Future, Labour's support partner. But it's a very good start.

Backbencher of the Year

National's John Key, even though he technically no longer sits on the backbenches. He wins because of his burgeoning influence as finance spokesman on the shaping of policy, in particular getting his leader to see the necessity of endorsing Cullen's superannuation fund.

Sure in his centre-right beliefs, Key also displays a healthy degree of pragmatism, which is unusual in a novice politician. He has a frighteningly comprehensive grasp of his portfolio, which has won him the hard-earned respect of Cullen. But he still communicates in a crisp, easily understood fashion.

Perhaps best of all, Key has something so many of his colleagues lack - a capacity for lateral thinking. So precocious is this political talent that National is afraid he will make mistakes and be burned off before he has really started to flower. He has consequently been kept somewhat in the shadows.

That must change - and will change - in election year. And should National lose the election, what odds on a leadership ticket of John Key and Bill English to replace the axis of Don Brash and Gerry Brownlee?

Other backbenchers mentioned in dispatches include National's Judith Collins, who secured Lianne Dalziel's scalp, and Labour's Russell Fairbrother for successfully doing the political equivalent of herding cats - keeping the special select committee on the foreshore law on the rails and reporting on deadline.

Statesman of the Year

Richard Prebble, believe it or not. Not quite mad dog to lap dog, but unlike so many leaders who cling on for too long, Prebble could see the writing on the wall.

He relinquished Act's helm with good grace and has resisted the temptation to publicly snipe at his successor despite the party continuing its one-way trip to the undertakers.

Sir Roger Douglas, who has resigned as an Act patron so he can speak out as the party's self-anointed conscience, should take heed.