Rishi Sunak is a very busy man these days but the Prime Minister made time to attend The Spectator magazine’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards where he picked up the prize for “Comeback of the Year”.

This is one of those traditional occasions which is a bit like White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, where the US President and vice-president and journalists get together over dinner and there is a certain amount of gentle ribbing between the adversaries.

Rishi can indeed be described as the comeback kid. He was preparing for life on the backbenches after losing out to Liz Truss in the Tory leadership contest in the summer. But he found himself in 10, Downing Street after a coronation in the autumn, after she was forced to resign after her September mini-budget caused chaos in the money markets.

Collecting his award, Rishi quipped to much laughter: “I must dedicate this award to my friends, my family and of course – the UK bond markets.”

Politicians from all parties attend the occasion which is meant to be civilised, good natured and very British in tone.

People have to have a good understanding of British politics to appreciate some of the humour behind the awards.

This year, apart from Rishi, they included: Survivor of the Year (Jeremy Hunt); Peer of the Year (Richard Harrington); Chancellor of the Year (Rachel Reeves); Campaign of the Year (Liam Fox); Resignation of the year (Sajid Javid); Backbencher of the Year (Rob Halfon); Minister to Watch (Kemi Badenoch); Minister of the Year (Ben Wallace); Politician of the year (Keir Starmer); and Speech of the Year (Theresa May).

The headline winner, Parliamentarian of the Year, went to President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, with his prize collected by his ambassador in London, Vadym Prystaiko, who made a heartfelt speech, praising the UK for its co-operation.

The Spectator’s gossip columnist, “Steerpike”, commented afterwards: “What a year in politics it has been. 2022 has seen five Education Secretaries, four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers but there is only one Spectator and so it was no surprise to see some of Westminster’s most familiar faces descend on London’s Rosewood Hotel. Ministers and their opposite numbers enjoyed the chance to break bread and toast each other.

“Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Robert Buckland, the man who switched from backing Rishi Sunak to Liz Truss in the first leadership race of the year but then ended up being sacked when the former succeeded the latter in October. He quipped, ‘Last year I was referred to as ‘the recently defenestrated Robert Buckland’. This year I ask my friends in the press to refer to me as ‘the recently defenestrated Sir Robert Buckland’.”

Steerpike also said: “There were a dozen honours up for grabs, with Jeremy Hunt collecting the first of the evening. Hunt, the survivor of the year, joked, ‘These days it’s not much of an honour to be Chancellor because everyone gets a go.’ Kemi Badenoch won Minister to Watch and reflected on her resignation from the Johnson government, ‘It really was like Avengers Assemble with Sajid as Captain America to take down Thanos.’ ”

Steerpike continued: “Perhaps the most cathartic moment of The Spectator’s Parliamentarian of the Year awards was when the relatively quiet former PM Theresa May had a pop at the not-so-quiet Piers Morgan (now a presenter on Rupert Murdoch’s little watched TalkTV). Picking up her award for Speech of the Year, May did acknowledge her weak reputation as a rhetorician. But she got Piers where it hurts.”

May said: “I’m really pleased that I have been recognised for my abilities for speaking. I just only hope that somebody is going to tell Donald Trump. Obviously, those of you who didn’t hear what Donald Trump said about my speaking clearly didn’t read The Spectator!… But he once said he would pay £100,000 not to hear me speak.

“It was Piers Morgan who reported that, and at the same time Piers told the story of having spoken to me for 20 minutes at a Spectator party. He went home, he said, and said he couldn’t remember a single thing that I had told him. If it’s any consolation, Piers, I couldn’t remember a single thing that you asked me. Indeed, I don’t remember speaking to you at all. Of course, that hasn’t stopped him from constantly asking me for an interview. Although I guess it’s hard to get guests for TalkTV…”