LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer won Politician of the Year at the Spectator awards on Monday evening.
The Labour leader, who recently came in for criticism after saying there were too many overseas workers in the NHS, got the backing of the right-qing magazine at the annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards.
The Scottish Greens also accused Starmer of using the same “insular” and “xenophobic” language as the Tories on immigration.
He said: “This is a real honour. I don’t expect to be endorsed by The Spectator at the next election, but I look forward to disagreeing in the battle of ideas.”
Sir Keir Starmer has just been awarded “politician of the year” at the Spectator Awards by the Spectator, the UK’s oldest Tory magazine.
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) November 23, 2022
He received a huge round of applause by Tory MPs and others in attendance. pic.twitter.com/PcE5wCS2TI
Recently, The Spectator was accused of using "vile" imagery to promtoe an article on immigration in Britain.
One of the magazine's columns was accompanied by a picture which showed a giant wave of non-white migrants climbing over one another to get to what resembles the White Cliffs of Dover.
Other winners on the night included Jeremy Hunt, who picked up the Survivor of the Year award, while former health secretary Sajid Javid was presented with Resignation of the Year.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon tells Edinburgh Scottish democracy won't be silenced
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak won Comeback of the Year after taking over as Prime Minister from Liz Truss, who he had earlier lost to in the summer’s leadership campaign.
The full list of winners was as follows:
- Survivor of the Year – Jeremy Hunt
- Peer of the Year – Richard Harrington
- Chancellor of the Year – Rachel Reeves
- Campaign of the Year – Liam Fox
- Resignation of the year – Sajid Javid
- Backbencher of the Year – Rob Halfon
- Minister to Watch – Kemi Badenoch
- Minister of the Year – Ben Wallace
- Politician of the year – Keir Starmer
- Speech of the Year – Theresa May
- Comeback of the Year – Rishi Sunak
- Parliamentarian of the Year – Volodymyr Zelensky
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