PRIME Minister Tony Blair broke off from his heavy diplomatic schedule during the US war on terrorism to name Manchester catalogue group N Brown as champion in the 2001 Manchester Evening News Business of the Year awards.

The premier, unable to attend the gala dinner at the Midland Hotel in person, filmed a video clip, announcing the winner in the top category and heaping praise on the region’s leadership.

He told the 300-strong gathering: ‘‘I am very sorry I could not be with you tonight, but I do want to say how much I support these awards which show the business excellence, hard work and innovation of north west companies.

‘‘This year’s winner is a company that started from very humble beginnings and it has been successful in what is a highly competitive sector.

‘‘It now employs over 3,000 people and has a turnover of around £400m.

‘‘They have done a fantastic job and it is my very great pleasure to announce the winner of the Manchester Evening News Business of the Year is the N Brown Group.’’

Stunned N Brown chief executive Jim Martin said he was ‘‘shocked and delighted’’ that the Dale Street-based company had won. ‘‘This is a great surprise and an honour. My colleagues and I had looked at the opposition here and thought ‘perhaps this is not going to be our year’.

‘‘This is a great tribute to the 4,000 people at N Brown - we have some great people at the company who make my job very easy.’’

The PM’s unusual drop-in had been kept a guarded secret until the big night, which saw 11 finalists competing for five awards.

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