It's been a busy year in politics with a new coalition government learning the ropes and a cluster of political scandals gripping the nation.
Newshub Political Editor Tova O'Brien awarded her Government superlatives on The AM Show this morning, and it was one now-former National MP who swept the awards.
The best political move of the year went to Jami-Lee Ross and his "kamikaze efforts" in parliament in October.
"Driving from Auckland to Wellington, stealing your bosses thunder just before he's about to give you the axe, resigning, holding court with the press gallery with their jaws dropped on the ground for an hour," she explained as an unprecedented effort by Mr Ross.
She said "the way it was all done was absolutely mind-boggling" and she'd never seen anything like it.
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But the awards for Mr Ross didn't end there, also gaining O'Brien's award for worst political performance, a prize shared with his previous boss, Simon Bridges.
He was also recognised for his part in the 'biggest scandal' of the year, special mentions going to Iain Lees-Galloway for the Karel Sroubek scandal and Clare Curran for the Derek Handley fiasco.
Recognition for 'best performance' went to Andrew Little, who O'Brien said went above and beyond this year.
She said his work on the Pike River mine re-entry, abortion law reform and working with Ngapuhi were "bold calls".
"He's one of the most competent ministers in this government so he's holding a hell of a lot of portfolios," said O'Brien.
O'Brien also said the "most useless" member of the coalition government was a tie between Iain Lees-Galloway and David Clark.
She said Mr Lees-Galloway's admission that he had not read the full report when deciding whether to grant Karel Sroubek residency in New Zealand qualified him for this award.
David Clark announced the Mental Health Review "with absolutely no detail about what the Government's going to do", according to O'Brien, so his name was also put forward for 'most useless'.
She said both governments had done well to get through major political scandals in 2018, but would have to keep working at making sure these did not resurface in the new year.
Newshub.
