Journalists at War Over Blair v Maggie Award

Reports reach me of a titanic dust up on Wednesday between Telegraph political grandees Peter Oborne, columnist on the Daily Telegraph, and Patrick Hennessy, political editor of the Sunday Telegraph at a Spectator lunch to decide a special prize to mark the Speccie's forthcoming 25th annual Parliamentary awards ceremony.

Fuelled by jugs of claret, tempers flared at Marcus Wareing's £100 a head restaurant in London's Berkeley Hotel as the great and good of the Westminster lobby was poised to give the top 25 year Parliamentary gong to Tony Blair.

Oborne, whose lexicon of fruity abuse makes comedian Frankie Boyle resemble saintly Ann Widdecombe, threatened to storm out if Blair got the prize.

Undeterred by jibes that he 'hadn't bothered' to attend an earlier lunch when Blair's award was more or less settled, Oborne said it would be a 'bloody outrage' if did not go to Margaret Thatcher. Hennessy, known for his closeness to Gordon Brown and co, led Blair's defence, arguing he was in a league of his own over the period in question, 1985-2010. Oborne's lone resistance gathered momentum when The Sun's greybearded elder statesman Trevor Kavanagh roused himself to wade in on Oborne's side. Then Sunday Times columnist Martin Ivens piled in too as Blairite cheerleaders like the Observer's Andrew Rawnsley, who thought the Blair award was a done deal, looked on in despair. It is still not clear who won the sozzled skirmish.

Regardless of the true but nitpicking point that Maggie was half way through her term when the 1985-2010 period began, they couldn't give the crown to Blair and not her, could they? Not The Speccie?

If they need a third lunch to sort it out, there can be only one winner - Marcus Wareing.

Brilliant Blogging by Fraser Nelson

THIS post by The Spectator's Fraser Nelson is far too good to be lost in the middle of a Daley Dozen. He decodes Health Minister Ivan Lewis's article in the most brilliant way. READ and enjoy. Blogging at its best.

An Invitation to Visit the Spectator Coffee House

Can I recommend a blog to you? About two months ago The Spectator started a blog called the Coffee House. It's a group blog, in that there a number of contributors to it, such as Matthew D'Ancona, Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth, among others. I am not normally a fan of group blogs as they tend to lack 'personality'. Personality is vital to any blog's success and I am glad to say that the Spectator Coffee House has already developed a real personality of its own in a relatively short time. Indeed, I now check it out at least twice a day. I urge you to do the same.