The Political Awards - Nominees

There is a school of thought which suggests that part of Gordon Brown revelled in the financial gloom of 2008.

Not that the Prime Minister would have wished for a banking collapse, rising unemployment and recession - but it has at least allowed him to get back to what he thinks he does best: the economy.

Brown, 57, was able to put dreadful poll ratings and increasing disillusionment with his leadership behind him as he unveiled a rescue plan for UK banks that was praised around the world.

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, the fact US and eurozone governments soon followed Brown's plans with similar proposals was praise indeed.

From a beleaguered and slightly comic looking figure, Brown emerged, to many, as a dynamic leader.

From his flying visit to the G7 meeting and his imperious arrival at the eurozone meeting in Paris, he was credited with persuading the world that he was the man with the plan.

Paul Krugman, the new Nobel laureate for economics, even said Brown's clear thinking was necessary and scarce among other world leaders.

Few politicians can reliably claim to have seen the recession coming, but Vince Cable is one of them.

The housing market bubble and the surge in household debt were among his key battlegrounds long before the credit started to crunch.

The collapse of British banks - and the subsequent recapitalisation process - brought Cable even closer to the forefront.

He was heralded by many for exposing the alleged indecisiveness of both the government and the Tories on economic issues, and crisis management.

Cable, 65, was the man who skewered Gordon Brown in the Commons thus: "The House has noticed the prime minister's remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean, creating chaos out of order rather than order out of chaos."

The ban on short-selling bank stocks was seemingly another political victory for Cable in 2008.

His attacks on hedge funds "hunting in packs" to drive down bank shares appeared in tune with a populist backlash against the "short-selling spivs" deemed responsible for forcing HBOS into a takeover.

It is claimed Cable has done more to influence government policy - and capture accurately the public's mood - than any Liberal politician for decades.

In an age of 'on message' politicians, Boris Johnson is something of a rarity.

Described by some as a buffoon, his bumbling persona, distinctive blonde hair and upper-class accent have long made him one of the UK's most recognisable politicians.

Yet 2008 saw 44 year-old Johnson cast in a different light, as he successfully dislodged Ken Livingstone to become London's mayor.

During the election campaign Johnson knuckled down to prove to the capital's 5.5 million voters that he was a serious candidate, displaying hitherto unseen discipline and grasp of policy detail.

Such was his success that opponents began to wonder what had happened to the "old Boris" - when, they wondered, was he going to make some outrageous gaffe or turn in befuddlement to an aide, as he had done on a previous occasion, and ask: "What is my policy on drugs?"

He said that a disappointed media had a "pent up rage" after spending the mayoral election campaign "deprived of their prey - a Johnson blooper".

Johnson's victory led many pundits to christen him the "most powerful Tory in the country" - and his hand in the sacking of Met Police chief Sir Iain Blair merely underlined this impression.

In September 2008, the prime minister seemed to be fighting for his political life and Peter Mandelson, one of the key architects of New Labour, was the Brussels-based EU trade commissioner. A week later, Brown's old enemy was reborn as Lord Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool to allow him to back into the political limelight as the business secretary.

The surprise new cabinet arrival has made his presence felt on a number of controversial policy issues, speaking out in support of the third runway for Heathrow and announcing a review of plans to extend flexible working.

In December he ruffled backbench feathers with plans for the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail, which could see part of the country's postal service sold to a foreign bidder.

He also took the gloss off shadow chancellor George Osborne's year, with a little help from a well-placed friend.

Tory whisperings about Mandelson "dripping poison" about Gordon Brown on board a Russian oligarch's yacht in the summer prompted financier Nathanial Rothschild to write to The Times accusing Osborne of attempting to solicit an illegal donation from the oligarch, Oleg Deripaska.

"Your obsession with Mr Mandelson is trivial in light of Mr Osborne's actions," Rothschild wrote in The Times; whatever the truth of the matter, the whole saga ended up with the headline egg firmly on Osborne's face.

The former MI5 chief was seen to be instrumental in scuppering controversial plans for the detention of terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge. In June, the government fought tooth and nail to get the bill through the House of Commons by a whisker of nine (DUP) votes.

A month later, Lady Manningham-Buller, who was in charge of the security service during the London bombings of 7/7, used her maiden speech in the Lords to set out her position on the issue.

"In deciding what I believe on these matters, I have weighed up the balance between the right to life - the most important civil liberty - the fact that there is no such thing as complete security and the importance of our hard-won civil liberties," she told the Lords.

"Therefore, on a matter of principle, I cannot support the proposal in the Bill for pre-charge detention of 42 days."

"I do not see on a practical basis or on a principled one that these proposals are in any way workable."

"Her speech took four minutes but they may be the most important four minutes of the entire long and sorry 42 days' detention saga," wrote Ann Treneman, The Times's sketchwriter. "After all, she should know."

In October, the Lords voted against 42 days by an overwhelming majority, effectively killing off the plans.

The Oxfordshire-based coroner has refused to bow to government pressure to tone down damning criticisms of the Ministry of Defence in his verdicts on the deaths of servicemen.

In March 2008, Des Browne, then the defence secretary, went to the High Court in an attempt to prevent coroners from using phrases such as "serious failures" or "serious failings" for soldiers killed in active service after Walker's criticism at the inquest into the death of Territorial Army soldier Jason Smith, who died of heatstroke in Iraq.

However, the judge rejected the MoD's claim, saying that families should be entitled to legal aid and as full access as possible to military documents put before inquest hearings.

In May, Walker accused the RAF of a "cavalier approach to safety" at an inquest into the deaths of 14 servicemen who were killed when a Nimrod plane exploded over Afghanistan.

The coroner called for the RAF's fleet of Nimrod planes to be grounded, saying a "serious design flaw" behind the crash meant the planes had never been airworthy. Families of two of the servicemen are now suing the MoD.

Walker sits in so many military inquests as bodies flown into RAF Brize Norton (no longer used for repatriations) fall under his remit. In the autumn he told military bosses to "hang their heads in shame" over the death of Cpl Mark Wright, who died in Afghanistan after a string of failures caused by a lack of equipment and funding.