Good news for Manchester Withington MP John Leech from the Manchester Gazette:

At a packed awards ceremony at the House of Commons tonight, south Manchester MP John Leech was presented with the first ever “Lib Dem MP of the Year” award for his work with deprived and minority groups. He received the award from House of Commons Speaker John Bercow at an event organised by the Patchwork Foundation. The Patchwork Foundation is the first BME charity to ever give awards out, following nominations from members of the public, and applications considered by an independent judging panel. John was chosen out of over a dozen Lib Dem MP’s nominated.

Nick Clegg praised John and the Patchwork Foundation’s work.

I want to congratulate Patchwork Foundation for all the excellent work they have done over the last 12 months to help encourage the positive integration of deprived and minority communities into British political society and for establishing the ground breaking awards. I also congratulate all the Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament on their nominations as MP of the Year and especially John Leech for winning the Liberal Democrat MP of the Year Award. John has been a tireless champion for this constituents for over 8 years and has ensured that he has represented all the views of those communities traditional excluded by the political process. John is a fantastic example of how Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament believe it is important we work with all our deprived and minority communities to help build a stronger economy and fairer society.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings