Award for Northern Ireland's First Minister

David Trimble has been named Parliamentarian of the Year at an award ceremony in London earlier today, sponsored by Spectator magazine and Zurich Financial Services.

Receiving the award Mr. Trimble, who was not present at the awards due to an engagement in New York, said he really appreciated the rare honour. He added that he felt it was very important Ulster Unionists to be represented in parliament "because we still have a little bit of a struggle to persuade people [in Britain] to pay attention to our affairs".

Editor of the Spectator magazine, Boris Johnson paid tribute to Northern Ireland's First Minister, saying he has "played a huge and distinguished part in what we are now entitled to call the peace process in Northern Ireland".