HEALTH Minister Andy Kerr and the extraordinary community campaign to save a young Thai man from deportation last night took the top honours at Scotland's most prestigious political awards ceremony.
Mr Kerr was named as The Herald Diageo Scottish Politician of the Year 2006 for introducing the ban on smoking in public places and taming NHS waiting times.
Acknowledged as a major step in Scotland's battle with lung cancer and heart disease, the ban put pressure on MPs to take a tougher line south of the border on their own version.
Accepting the award, Mr Kerr paid tribute to all the staff working in the NHS and for "the pleasure of watching them improve people's lives".
He said that Scotland was beginning to change its attitude towards health. People were making a choice "and we need to credit them with that".
The efforts made by the people of Shetland on behalf of Sakchai Makao were recognised in the Campaign of the Year. Their belief in Sakchai was confirmed by a court ruling which said the Home Office had been "unhesitatingly" wrong.
There was glory for the SNP MP Angus MacNeil, who was named Best Scot at Westminster for initiating the police investigation into "cash-for-peerages".
Transport Minister Tavish Scott was named the Debater of the Year at Holyrood, while the Scottish Parliament's Justice 1 Committee was honoured as Committee of the Year for its attempt to get to the bottom of the Shirley McKie fingerprint scandal, using parliamentary scrutiny to investigate the Scottish Criminal Records Office after ministers refused.
Karen Gillon, the Labour MSP who has fought to introduce a member's bill on corporate killing, was Free Spirit of the Year, and the Johnnie Walker Award for Progress, given to those showing the greatest development through the year, was won collectively by the seven MSPs of the Green Party.
The awards were presented at a gala ceremony at Edinburgh's Prestonfield Hotel in front of 450 guests from the worlds of politics, arts, and entertainment.
INSIDE The awards in full Page 6
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