REDCAR MP Vera Baird has been named as backbencher of the year.
She received the accolade at The Spectator magazine-sponsored Parliamentarian of the Year awards in London. The human rights barrister was commended for speaking up for pensioners and holding Home Secretary David Blunkett to account on civil liberties issues.
A citation in her honour noted that she was 'one of the few women MPs who does not flinch from combative debate.'
Mrs Baird, a Labour MP, said: "I did not agree about other women MPs not being up for combative debate, but I was very pleased to get the award, especially considering it was sponsored by a Tory magazine."
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, who opposed the war in Iraq, won politician of the year and Tory MP Sir Peter Tapsell won Parliamentarian of the year.
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