SATIRICAL magazine Private Eye has ridiculed MP Anne Snelgrove for her unflagging loyalty to Government ministers.

The South Swindon Labour MP has been awarded the spoof accolade Order of the Backbench Brown Nose.

The award comes after comments she made to bolster disgraced John Prescott at his first Commons appearance after he was demoted following revelations of an affair with his diary secretary.

She told MPs in the Commons that many in the country were "very proud" of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The order is awarded in recognition of the most "fawning, obsequious, softball, well rehearsed and planted questions" asked of ministers by loyal New Labour MPs.

Mrs Snelgrove said: "Having the mickey taken out of you is part of being an MP and it's made even easier when a magazine takes a quote out of context.

"The serious point, though, is that I put Swindon before party politics."

The MP, who is parliamentary assistant to health minister Lord Warner, has attended 94 per cent of votes in Parliament the 18th highest record out of 644 MPs and has spoken in 39 debates in the last year the 133rd highest.

Mrs Snelgrove spent hours in the Commons chamber on Tuesday and Wednesday backing Tony Blair's controversial Education Bill.

The MP leapt to Mr Prescott's defence earlier this month when Tory MPs lined up to humiliate him.

Mrs Snelgrove said: "There is a great deal of pride in the party and the country about the role that the Deputy Prime Minister has played.

"In particular, we are pleased to hear that his responsibilities have now been defined."

Private Eye is edited by BBC Have I Got News For You panellist Ian Hislop.