“Promoting and inspiring young talent from all backgrounds to engage in the politics and civil society strengthens political participation and our democratic process. The Patchwork Foundation is due enormous credit for their work in encouraging the positive integration of underrepresented communities and I am pleased to have been able to support the Foundation over the years as they have grown from strength to strength.”
Five months after the official launch event in the Houses of Parliament, the Patchwork Foundation MP of the Year Award ceremony took place in Speaker’s House on Monday 15 July 2013, kindly hosted by Mr Speaker, Rt Hon John Bercow.
Guests came together on Monday 15 July 2013 for the first ever MP of the Year Award. The MP of the Year award was created to recognise MPs who are committed to representing and working with deprived and minority communities. The MPs are nominated by individuals and grassroots communities organisations, and subsequently picked by an indepedent panel of judges, which included UpRising CEO, Andrea Cooper.
In addition to being awarded ‘Labour MP of the Year’, the Rt Hon Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting, was named the overall ‘MP of the Year’:
“I was born in Tooting, went to school here and now I am raising my family here – I wouldn’t want to be MP anywhere else. I have been Tooting’s Member of Parliament for over eight years now, and I have always taken great pride in having the opportunity to represent all of the people of Tooting, my home, in Parliament. In Tooting we are blessed with an incredibly diverse and harmonious community and being a Muslim and the son of Pakistani migrants, it has always been my priority to work hard to make sure I engage with, and represent, all of the religious and ethnic groups in my constituency. There are so many MPs who work extremely hard for their constituents and I am therefore very humbled to win this award. I would like to thank all of my constituents who nominated me. The Patchwork Foundation does a brilliant job encouraging both deprived and minority communities to participate in mainstream political life and I look forward to continuing to support their work in the future.”
“It is a real pleasure to be given this award. I believe we have to do as much as possible to involve young people from minority backgrounds in the political process and other parts of public life.”
– Rt Hon Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell and winner of Conservative MP of the Year
Martyn Lewis CBE, Chairman of the NCVO Trustee Board, Founder of YouthNet, former BBC/ITV television journalist and a Patron of the Patchwork Foundation who compered the award’s ceremony said: “I am delighted to be involved in a ceremony that acknowledges and honours the great work that many MPs are doing to help minority and deprived communities across the country. It was particularly good to see so many being nominated, and highlighting those who have done most in this important area of national life will hopefully encourage others to follow suit.”
A full list of winners and nominees can be found below.
Click here to see more photographs from the event.
Category: MP of the Year
Winner: Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP
Nominations: Winner of Conservative MP of the Year, Labour MP of the Year, Liberal Democrat MP of the Year & Newcomer MP of the Year
Category: Conservative MP of the Year
Winner: Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP
Runner Up: Sir Tony Baldry MP
Nominations: Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, Rt Hon David Davis MP, Rt Hon David Jones MP, Rt Hon Dominic Grieve MP, Richard Ottaway MP & Sir Tony Baldry MP
Category: Labour MP of the Year
Winner: Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP
Runner Up: Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP
Nominations: Fabian Hamilton MP, Fiona Mactaggart MP, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Lyn Brown MP, Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP, Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP & Stephen Twigg MP
Category: Liberal Democrat MP of the Year
Winner: John Leech MP
Runner Up: Tim Farron MP
Nominations: Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP, Rt Hon Don Foster MP, Rt Hon Ed Davey MP, Greg Mulholland MP, Jenny Willott MP, Jo Swinson MP, John Hemming MP, John Leech MP, Norman Lamb MP, Sarah Teather MP, Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP & Tim Farron MP
Category: Newcomer MP of the Year
Winner: Caroline Lucas MP
Runner Up: Jonathan Reynolds MP
Nominations: Alok Sharma MP, Anas Sarwar MP, Angie Bray MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Chuka Umunna MP, Jon Ashworth MP, Jonathan Reynolds MP, Lilian Greenwood MP, Rushanara Ali MP, Stella Creasy MP, Steve Reed MP & Zac Goldsmith MP