Michael Portillo
Encyclopedia
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (born 26 May 1953) is a British
journalist, broadcast
er, and former Conservative Party
politician and Cabinet Minister
. Portillo was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election
in 1984; a strong admirer of Margaret Thatcher
, and a Eurosceptic
, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Thatcher and John Major
, before entering the cabinet in 1992. Seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election
, Portillo ultimately stayed loyal. As Defence Secretary
, Portillo pressed for a purist Thatcherite
course of "clear blue water", separating the policies of the Conservatives from Labour
.
Portillo unexpectedly lost his Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 general election
; political commentators widely believe that he would have been elected Conservative leader had he retained it. Subsequent to the loss, Portillo embarked on both a broader career in the media, and a revision of his previous beliefs, arguing for a more socially liberal
and tolerant Conservative Party. Returning to the Commons through a by-election in Kensington and Chelsea
in 1999, Portillo rejoined the front bench as Shadow Chancellor
, although his relationship with Conservative Leader William Hague
was strained. Standing for the leadership of the party in 2001
, Portillo came a narrow third place behind Iain Duncan Smith
and Kenneth Clarke
. Portillo retired from the Commons at the 2005 general election
, since when he has pursued his media interests, presenting a wide range of television and radio programmes.
, Hertfordshire
, England, Portillo took the name Xavier at confirmation. His father was an exile
d Spanish republican
, Luis Gabriel Portillo (1907–1993). His mother is Cora (née Blyth); her father was John Blyth, a prosperous linen mill owner from Kirkcaldy
. An early brush with fame came in 1961 at the age of 8, when Portillo starred in a television advertisement for Ribena
, a blackcurrant cordial drink. He was educated at Stanburn Primary School in Stanmore
, Middlesex
, and Harrow County School for Boys
and then won a scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge
, where he came under the influence of Maurice Cowling
.
Portillo graduated in 1975 with a first-class
degree in history, and after a brief stint with Ocean Transport and Trading Co., a freight firm, he joined the Conservative Research Department
in 1976. Following the Conservative victory in 1979
he became a government adviser. He left to work for Kerr-McGee
Oil from 1981–1983 and fought his first, unsuccessful, election in the 1983 general election
, in the Labour-held seat of Birmingham Perry Barr, losing against Jeff Rooker
.
Portillo has been married to Carolyn Eadie since 1982.
following the murder of the incumbent
, Sir Anthony Berry
, in the bombing by the IRA
of the Grand Hotel
in Brighton
.
Portillo retained the Enfield Southgate seat until 1997. Initially he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary
to John Moore and then an assistant whip
. In 1987 he was made under secretary for social security
, in 1988 he was given his first ministerial post as Minister of State
for Transport. He has claimed that "saving the Settle to Carlisle railway was his greatest achievement in politics."
He then held the local government
portfolio (1990), arguing in favour of the ultimately highly unpopular Community Charge system (popularly known as Poll Tax). He demonstrated a consistently right-of-centre line (exemplified by his insistence, in a well-publicised speech, of placing 'clear blue water' between the policies of the Conservatives and other parties) and was favoured by Norman Tebbit
and Margaret Thatcher
. His rise continued under John Major
; he was made a Cabinet Minister as Chief Secretary to the Treasury
(1992), and admitted to the Privy Council
the same year. Portillo subsequently held the portfolios of Employment (1994) and then Defence (1995–1997). His high profile led to constant attention from the media, including the magazine Private Eye
, which mocked him as Portaloo
. He was accused of vanity when the Alexandra Palace
was hired to celebrate his ten years in politics.
Some saw the Defence Secretary post as a reward for his cautious loyalty to Major during the 1995 leadership challenge
of John Redwood
, following Major's "back me or sack me" resignation as party leader. Many urged Portillo to run against Major, and he set up a potential campaign headquarters with banks of telephone lines. He later admitted that this was an error; "I did not want to oppose [Major], but neither did I want to close the possibility of entering a second ballot if it came to that." His opponents within the party later used Portillo's apparent equivocation as an example of his indecisiveness, and he acknowledged that "[a]mbiguity is unattractive."
As Defence Secretary
Portillo invited criticism by invoking the motto
of the SAS
, "Who Dares, Wins", at a speech at the Conservative Party annual conference.
to Stephen Twigg
came as a shock to many politicians and commentators, and came to symbolise the extent of the Conservatives' defeat. Memorably, he was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman
on the election night prior to the calling of his own seat and was stumped by the question of "Are we seeing the end of the Conservative Party as a credible force in British politics?" Portillo has since admitted that he knew he had lost his seat by the time of the interview:
Photographs and film coverage of Portillo's speech after the count have become iconic in symbolising the end of the period of Conservative government which had begun under Margaret Thatcher
in 1979. Portillo's defeat represented a 17.4% swing to Labour. Although Twigg retained the seat with an increased majority in 2001, it returned to the Conservative Party in 2005 with a swing of 8.7%.
"Were you up for Portillo?" (i.e. "Were you awake/did you see Portillo's result announced on television?") Portillo himself commented, thirteen years later, that as a consequence "My name is now synonymous with eating a bucketload of shit in public."
and Channel 4
. He also seemed to be moving in his expressed opinions more towards the centre-right.
In an interview with The Times
given in the summer of 1999, Portillo admitted that "I had some homosexual experiences as a young person." A few weeks after he had given this interview, the death of Alan Clark
gave Portillo the opportunity to return to Parliament, despite Lord Tebbit
accusing Portillo of lying about the extent of his sexual "deviance". Nonetheless Portillo comfortably won the
by-election in late November 1999
to represent Kensington and Chelsea
, traditionally one of the safest Conservative seats.
On 1 February 2000, William Hague
promoted Portillo to the Shadow Cabinet
as Shadow Chancellor
. On 3 February Portillo stood opposite the Chancellor of the Exchequer
, Gordon Brown
, in the House of Commons for the first time in his new role. During this session, Portillo made two significant announcements:
Both of these policies were flagship policies of New Labour and were opposed by large factions of the Conservative Party when introduced and indeed up until Portillo's announcement. Commentators suggested this was an example of Portillo taking the initiative in terms of Conservative Party policy and was the first step towards increasing acrimony between Hague and his Shadow Chancellor.
Portillo contested the leadership of the party. In the first ballot of Conservative MPs, he led well. However, there followed an onslaught of attacks from the right-wing press (notably the Daily Telegraph
and the Daily Mail
), including veiled (and not-so-veiled) references to his previous homosexual experiences and to his equivocation at the time of Major's 1995 resignation. He was knocked out in the final round of voting by Conservative MPs, leaving party members to choose between Iain Duncan Smith
and Kenneth Clarke
. When Duncan Smith was elected leader, Portillo returned to the backbenches. In March 2003, he voted in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In November 2003, having turned down an offer of a Shadow Cabinet post from the incoming Conservative leader Michael Howard
, Portillo announced that he would not seek re-election and he left the House of Commons at the 2005 general election
. His membership of the Conservative Party has since lapsed.
of the defence company BAE Systems plc
. He stepped down from that position in March 2006 owing to potential conflicts of interest
.
He was a member of the board of the Kerr-McGee Corporation
for a few months in 2006.
Since 2003, Portillo has appeared in the BBC
weekly political discussion programme This Week
with Andrew Neil
and, until September 2010, Labour MP Diane Abbott
. Portillo has known Abbott for many years: they both attended schools in the London Borough of Harrow
, Portillo and Abbott were in a joint school production of Romeo and Juliet
, though not in the title roles. Later, whilst still at school, Portillo cast Abbott in a film version of Macbeth
, but the film was never completed. She played Lady Macduff
to his Macduff The chemistry between Portillo and Abbott has been credited with ensuring the programme's popularity.
Portillo has featured in a number of television documentaries, including one on Richard Wagner
, of whose music he is a notable fan, and two on Spain: Great Railway Journeys: From Granada
to Salamanca
for BBC Two
(2002), and a programme on Spanish wildlife for BBC Two
's The Natural World series (2006) - Portillo is a fluent Spanish
speaker. He showed an unexpectedly warm and perceptive side of his nature when he took over for one week the life, family and income of a single mother living on benefits in Wallasey
- When Michael Portillo became a Single Mum, (2003). He chose to present Queen Elizabeth I
for the BBC's series of Great Britons
in 2002.
Since 2002, he has presented his own discussion series, "Dinner with Portillo", on BBC Four
, in which political and social questions are explored by Portillo and his seven guests, over a four-course meal. As of 2007, in its fifth series, his guests had included Bianca Jagger
, Grayson Perry
, Francis Wheen
, Seymour Hersh
, PD James
, Baroness Shirley Williams, George Galloway
, Benazir Bhutto
and Germaine Greer
.
He is a long-serving member of the panel in the BBC Radio Four series The Moral Maze
.
In 2007, he participated in the BBC television project The Verdict
, serving, with other well-known figures, as a jury
member hearing a fictional rape case. He was elected the jury's foreman.
The documentary How To Kill A Human Being, in the Horizon series, featured Portillo carrying out a survey of capital punishment
methods (including undertaking some near death experience
s himself) in an attempt to find an 'acceptable' form. It was broadcast on BBC Two
on 15 January 2008. He has since made a second Horizon documentary, entitled How Violent Are You?, which was broadcast on 12 May 2009.
Portillo was the Chairman of the committee choosing the 2008 Man Booker Prize
. He also interviewed clients of the French
corporation Capgemini
in a video publicity series.
In 2008 Portillo made a documentary as part of the BBC Headroom campaign (which explores mental health issues). Portillo's documentary 'Death of a School Friend' explores how the suicide
of Portillo's classmate Gary Findon affected Findon's parents, brother, music teachers, school teachers, classmates, and Portillo himself. The programme was originally broadcast on Friday 7 November 2008.
In 2009, Portillo appeared in the second episode of the second series of The Supersizers eat... to discuss medieval
cuisine
and Magna Carta
. Filmed in 2009 but first broadcast 4 January 2010, Portillo presented Great British Railway Journeys
in which he explored, with the aid of George Bradshaw
's 1840 railway guidebook, how the railways had a profound influence on the social, economic and political history of Britain. A second series was broadcast on BBC2 during 2011.
In September 2011 he presented a two-part series on BBC Radio 4
entitled Capitalism on Trial.
Portillo has written a regular column for The Sunday Times
, contributes to other journals (he was a theatre critic for the New Statesman
until May 2006), and is a regular radio broadcaster in the UK.
(ICMP). He is a trustee of the charity The Parliamentary Committee Against Anti-Semitism, and also President of DebRA, a British national charity working on behalf of people with the genetic skin blistering condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa
(EB).
Portillo is the British chairman of the Anglo-Spanish organisation Tertulias, which organises annual meetings between the two countries. He is also a Vice President of Canning House, the Hispanic
& Luso
Brazil
ian Council.
, the Heritage Lottery Fund
and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
. Applicants will be able to bid for grants of between £500,000 and £5m, which must be matched from the private sector. Applications are expected to begin in September 2011.
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British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
journalist, broadcast
Broadcast
Broadcast or Broadcasting may refer to:* Broadcasting, the transmission of audio and video signals* Broadcast, an individual television program or radio program* Broadcast , an English electronic music band...
er, and former Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician and Cabinet Minister
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
. Portillo was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election
Enfield Southgate by-election, 1984
The Enfield Southgate by-election, 1984 was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 December 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Enfield Southgate.- Previous MP :...
in 1984; a strong admirer of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and a Eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Thatcher and John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, before entering the cabinet in 1992. Seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1995
The 1995 Conservative leadership election was initiated when incumbent leader and Prime Minister John Major resigned as leader on 22 June 1995, in order to face down critics within his party...
, Portillo ultimately stayed loyal. As Defence Secretary
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
, Portillo pressed for a purist Thatcherite
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
course of "clear blue water", separating the policies of the Conservatives from Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
Portillo unexpectedly lost his Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
; political commentators widely believe that he would have been elected Conservative leader had he retained it. Subsequent to the loss, Portillo embarked on both a broader career in the media, and a revision of his previous beliefs, arguing for a more socially liberal
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
and tolerant Conservative Party. Returning to the Commons through a by-election in Kensington and Chelsea
Kensington and Chelsea by-election, 1999
The Member of Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea, Alan Clark, died of a brain tumour on September 5, 1999.This was the first safe Conservative seat to have a by-election in the Parliament. There was immediate speculation that Michael Portillo, the most high-profile casualty of the 1997 general...
in 1999, Portillo rejoined the front bench as Shadow Chancellor
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional...
, although his relationship with Conservative Leader William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
was strained. Standing for the leadership of the party in 2001
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2001
The 2001 Conservative leadership election was held after the United Kingdom Conservative Party failed to make inroads into the Labour government's lead in the 2001 general election. Party leader William Hague resigned, and a leadership contest was called under new rules Hague had introduced...
, Portillo came a narrow third place behind Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
and Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
. Portillo retired from the Commons at the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, since when he has pursued his media interests, presenting a wide range of television and radio programmes.
Early life and career
Born Michael Denzil Portillo in BusheyBushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is situated to the south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow.-History:...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England, Portillo took the name Xavier at confirmation. His father was an exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
d Spanish republican
Popular Front (Spain)
The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
, Luis Gabriel Portillo (1907–1993). His mother is Cora (née Blyth); her father was John Blyth, a prosperous linen mill owner from Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...
. An early brush with fame came in 1961 at the age of 8, when Portillo starred in a television advertisement for Ribena
Ribena
Ribena is a British brand of fruit-based uncarbonated soft drink, carbonated soft drink and fruit drink concentrate produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The original and most common variety contains real blackcurrant juice.- History :...
, a blackcurrant cordial drink. He was educated at Stanburn Primary School in Stanmore
Stanmore
Stanmore is a suburban area of the London Borough of Harrow, in northwest London. It is situated northwest of Charing Cross. The area is home to Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, high.-Toponymy:...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, and Harrow County School for Boys
Harrow High School
Harrow High School is a state secondary school in the London Borough of Harrow in the north-west of London. The headteacher is Paul Gamble. The school is a specialist Sports College. It is not to be confused with the independent school Harrow School, situated nearby at Harrow on the...
and then won a scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
, where he came under the influence of Maurice Cowling
Maurice Cowling
Maurice John Cowling was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.-Life:Cowling was born in Norwood, South London, to a lower middle-class family. His family then moved to Streatham, where Cowling attended an LCC elementary school, and from 1937 the Battersea Grammar School...
.
Portillo graduated in 1975 with a first-class
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
degree in history, and after a brief stint with Ocean Transport and Trading Co., a freight firm, he joined the Conservative Research Department
Conservative Research Department
The Conservative Research Department is part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It operates alongside other departments of Conservative Campaign Headquarters at 30 Millbank, London SW1....
in 1976. Following the Conservative victory in 1979
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
he became a government adviser. He left to work for Kerr-McGee
Kerr-McGee
The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an energy company involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. On June 23, 2006, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation agreed to acquire Kerr-McGee in an all-cash transaction totaling $16.5 billion plus the assumption of $2.6...
Oil from 1981–1983 and fought his first, unsuccessful, election in the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
, in the Labour-held seat of Birmingham Perry Barr, losing against Jeff Rooker
Jeff Rooker, Baron Rooker
Jeffrey William Rooker, Baron Rooker, PC is a British politician, who served as the Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Perry Barr from 1974 until 2001...
.
Portillo has been married to Carolyn Eadie since 1982.
Member of Parliament
Portillo returned to advisory work for the government and in December 1984 he stood for and won the Enfield Southgate by-electionEnfield Southgate by-election, 1984
The Enfield Southgate by-election, 1984 was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 December 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Enfield Southgate.- Previous MP :...
following the murder of the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
, Sir Anthony Berry
Anthony Berry
Sir Anthony George Berry was a British politician, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate, and a Whip in Margaret Thatcher's government...
, in the bombing by the IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
of the Grand Hotel
Brighton hotel bombing
The Brighton hotel bombing happened on 12 October 1984 at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. The bomb was planted by Provisional Irish Republican Army member Patrick Magee, with the intention of assassinating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet who were staying at the hotel for the...
in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
Portillo retained the Enfield Southgate seat until 1997. Initially he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to John Moore and then an assistant whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
. In 1987 he was made under secretary for social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
, in 1988 he was given his first ministerial post as Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
for Transport. He has claimed that "saving the Settle to Carlisle railway was his greatest achievement in politics."
He then held the local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
portfolio (1990), arguing in favour of the ultimately highly unpopular Community Charge system (popularly known as Poll Tax). He demonstrated a consistently right-of-centre line (exemplified by his insistence, in a well-publicised speech, of placing 'clear blue water' between the policies of the Conservatives and other parties) and was favoured by Norman Tebbit
Norman Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...
and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. His rise continued under John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
; he was made a Cabinet Minister as Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...
(1992), and admitted to the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
the same year. Portillo subsequently held the portfolios of Employment (1994) and then Defence (1995–1997). His high profile led to constant attention from the media, including the magazine Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
, which mocked him as Portaloo
Portable toilet
Portable toilet are simple portable enclosures containing a chemical toilet which are typically used as a temporary toilet for construction sites and large gatherings and events. Most of the portable toilets have black open-front-U-shaped toilet seat with cover...
. He was accused of vanity when the Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a building in North London, England. It stands in Alexandra Park, in an area between Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green...
was hired to celebrate his ten years in politics.
Some saw the Defence Secretary post as a reward for his cautious loyalty to Major during the 1995 leadership challenge
Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1995
The 1995 Conservative leadership election was initiated when incumbent leader and Prime Minister John Major resigned as leader on 22 June 1995, in order to face down critics within his party...
of John Redwood
John Redwood
John Alan Redwood is a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Wokingham. He was formerly Secretary of State for Wales in Prime Minister John Major's Cabinet and was an unsuccessful challenger for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1995...
, following Major's "back me or sack me" resignation as party leader. Many urged Portillo to run against Major, and he set up a potential campaign headquarters with banks of telephone lines. He later admitted that this was an error; "I did not want to oppose [Major], but neither did I want to close the possibility of entering a second ballot if it came to that." His opponents within the party later used Portillo's apparent equivocation as an example of his indecisiveness, and he acknowledged that "[a]mbiguity is unattractive."
As Defence Secretary
Secretary of State for Defence
The Secretary of State for Defence, popularly known as the Defence Secretary, is the senior Government of the United Kingdom minister in charge of the Ministry of Defence, chairing the Defence Council. It is a Cabinet position...
Portillo invited criticism by invoking the motto
Motto
A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
of the SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
, "Who Dares, Wins", at a speech at the Conservative Party annual conference.
1997 election defeat
Portillo's loss of the Enfield Southgate seat in the 1997 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
to Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
came as a shock to many politicians and commentators, and came to symbolise the extent of the Conservatives' defeat. Memorably, he was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
on the election night prior to the calling of his own seat and was stumped by the question of "Are we seeing the end of the Conservative Party as a credible force in British politics?" Portillo has since admitted that he knew he had lost his seat by the time of the interview:
Photographs and film coverage of Portillo's speech after the count have become iconic in symbolising the end of the period of Conservative government which had begun under Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in 1979. Portillo's defeat represented a 17.4% swing to Labour. Although Twigg retained the seat with an increased majority in 2001, it returned to the Conservative Party in 2005 with a swing of 8.7%.
'Portillo moment'
The 1997 loss, symbolising the loss of the election by the Conservative Party, has been referred to as "the Portillo moment", and in the clichéCliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
"Were you up for Portillo?" (i.e. "Were you awake/did you see Portillo's result announced on television?") Portillo himself commented, thirteen years later, that as a consequence "My name is now synonymous with eating a bucketload of shit in public."
Return to the House of Commons
After the election, Portillo renewed his attachment to Kerr McGee but also undertook substantial media work including programmes for the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. He also seemed to be moving in his expressed opinions more towards the centre-right.
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
given in the summer of 1999, Portillo admitted that "I had some homosexual experiences as a young person." A few weeks after he had given this interview, the death of Alan Clark
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
gave Portillo the opportunity to return to Parliament, despite Lord Tebbit
Norman Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...
accusing Portillo of lying about the extent of his sexual "deviance". Nonetheless Portillo comfortably won the
by-election in late November 1999
Kensington and Chelsea by-election, 1999
The Member of Parliament for Kensington and Chelsea, Alan Clark, died of a brain tumour on September 5, 1999.This was the first safe Conservative seat to have a by-election in the Parliament. There was immediate speculation that Michael Portillo, the most high-profile casualty of the 1997 general...
to represent Kensington and Chelsea
Kensington and Chelsea (UK Parliament constituency)
Kensington and Chelsea was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the safest Conservative seats in the United Kingdom, and since its creation in 1997 became a prestigious seat, with MP Alan Clark, the former Defence Secretary...
, traditionally one of the safest Conservative seats.
On 1 February 2000, William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
promoted Portillo to the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
as Shadow Chancellor
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional...
. On 3 February Portillo stood opposite the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, in the House of Commons for the first time in his new role. During this session, Portillo made two significant announcements:
- The next Conservative Government will respect the independence of the Bank of EnglandBank of EnglandThe Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and will legislate to enhance that independence and increase accountability to Parliament - The next Conservative Government will not repeal the national minimum wageMinimum wageA minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
Both of these policies were flagship policies of New Labour and were opposed by large factions of the Conservative Party when introduced and indeed up until Portillo's announcement. Commentators suggested this was an example of Portillo taking the initiative in terms of Conservative Party policy and was the first step towards increasing acrimony between Hague and his Shadow Chancellor.
Bid for party leadership and retirement from politics
Following the 2001 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
Portillo contested the leadership of the party. In the first ballot of Conservative MPs, he led well. However, there followed an onslaught of attacks from the right-wing press (notably the Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
), including veiled (and not-so-veiled) references to his previous homosexual experiences and to his equivocation at the time of Major's 1995 resignation. He was knocked out in the final round of voting by Conservative MPs, leaving party members to choose between Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
and Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Clarke
Kenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
. When Duncan Smith was elected leader, Portillo returned to the backbenches. In March 2003, he voted in favour of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In November 2003, having turned down an offer of a Shadow Cabinet post from the incoming Conservative leader Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
, Portillo announced that he would not seek re-election and he left the House of Commons at the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
. His membership of the Conservative Party has since lapsed.
Business interests
In September 2002 Portillo became a non-executive directorNon-executive director
A non-executive director or outside director is a member of the board of directors of a company who does not form part of the executive management team. He or she is not an employee of the company or affiliated with it in any other way...
of the defence company BAE Systems plc
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
. He stepped down from that position in March 2006 owing to potential conflicts of interest
Conflicts of Interest
"Conflicts of Interest" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Arc significance:* Garibaldi begins to work for William Edgars. In the process Garibaldi is reintroduced to his ex-girlfriend, Lise, who is currently married to Edgars.* The "Voice of...
.
He was a member of the board of the Kerr-McGee Corporation
Kerr-McGee
The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an energy company involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. On June 23, 2006, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation agreed to acquire Kerr-McGee in an all-cash transaction totaling $16.5 billion plus the assumption of $2.6...
for a few months in 2006.
Media career
From 2002 onwards, Portillo has developed an active career in media, both as a commentator on public affairs and as a writer and/or presenter of TV and radio documentaries.Since 2003, Portillo has appeared in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
weekly political discussion programme This Week
This Week (BBC One TV series)
This Week is a current affairs and politics TV programme in the United Kingdom on the BBC, screened on Thursday evenings, hosted by former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil alongside former Conservative Member of Parliament and Minister Michael Portillo, and a left leaning guest panellist on...
with Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
and, until September 2010, Labour MP Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
. Portillo has known Abbott for many years: they both attended schools in the London Borough of Harrow
London Borough of Harrow
The London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of north-west London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east.-History:...
, Portillo and Abbott were in a joint school production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, though not in the title roles. Later, whilst still at school, Portillo cast Abbott in a film version of Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, but the film was never completed. She played Lady Macduff
Lady Macduff
Lady Macduff, a character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is the wife of Macduff, the Thane of Fife, and the mother of an unnamed son and other children. Her appearance in the play is brief: she and her son are introduced in Act IV Scene II, a climactic and tragic scene that ends with both her and her...
to his Macduff The chemistry between Portillo and Abbott has been credited with ensuring the programme's popularity.
Portillo has featured in a number of television documentaries, including one on Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, of whose music he is a notable fan, and two on Spain: Great Railway Journeys: From Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
to Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
(2002), and a programme on Spanish wildlife for BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's The Natural World series (2006) - Portillo is a fluent Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
speaker. He showed an unexpectedly warm and perceptive side of his nature when he took over for one week the life, family and income of a single mother living on benefits in Wallasey
Wallasey
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
- When Michael Portillo became a Single Mum, (2003). He chose to present Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
for the BBC's series of Great Britons
100 Greatest Britons
100 Greatest Britons was broadcast in 2002 by the BBC. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the United Kingdom public considers the greatest British people in history. The series, Great Britons, included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further...
in 2002.
Since 2002, he has presented his own discussion series, "Dinner with Portillo", on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
, in which political and social questions are explored by Portillo and his seven guests, over a four-course meal. As of 2007, in its fifth series, his guests had included Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
, Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry is an English artist, known mainly for his ceramic vases and cross-dressing. Perry's vases have classical forms and are decorated in bright colours, depicting subjects at odds with their attractive appearance. There is a strong autobiographical element in his work, in which images of...
, Francis Wheen
Francis Wheen
Francis James Baird Wheen is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.-Early life and education:Wheen was born into an army family and educated at two independent schools: Copthorne Preparatory School near Crawley, West Sussex and Harrow School in north west London.-Life and career:Running...
, Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
, PD James
P. D. James
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, OBE, FRSA, FRSL , commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.-Life and career:James...
, Baroness Shirley Williams, George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
and Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
.
He is a long-serving member of the panel in the BBC Radio Four series The Moral Maze
The Moral Maze
The Moral Maze is a radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast since 1990.-Structure:Four regular panellists discuss moral and ethical issues relating to a recent news story. The debate is often combative and guest witnesses may be cross-examined aggressively. The programme is hosted by Michael Buerk...
.
In 2007, he participated in the BBC television project The Verdict
The Verdict (BBC)
The Verdict was a controversial 2007 BBC television programme produced by RDF Media in which twelve celebrities formed the jury in the trial of a fictional rape case. The programme was filmed with real legal and medical professionals, but with actors playing the victim, defendants, and witnesses...
, serving, with other well-known figures, as a jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
member hearing a fictional rape case. He was elected the jury's foreman.
The documentary How To Kill A Human Being, in the Horizon series, featured Portillo carrying out a survey of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
methods (including undertaking some near death experience
Near death experience
A near-death experience refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body; feelings of levitation; extreme fear; total serenity, security, or warmth; the experience of absolute dissolution;...
s himself) in an attempt to find an 'acceptable' form. It was broadcast on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on 15 January 2008. He has since made a second Horizon documentary, entitled How Violent Are You?, which was broadcast on 12 May 2009.
Portillo was the Chairman of the committee choosing the 2008 Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. He also interviewed clients of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
corporation Capgemini
Capgemini
Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...
in a video publicity series.
In 2008 Portillo made a documentary as part of the BBC Headroom campaign (which explores mental health issues). Portillo's documentary 'Death of a School Friend' explores how the suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of Portillo's classmate Gary Findon affected Findon's parents, brother, music teachers, school teachers, classmates, and Portillo himself. The programme was originally broadcast on Friday 7 November 2008.
In 2009, Portillo appeared in the second episode of the second series of The Supersizers eat... to discuss medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
cuisine
Medieval cuisine
Medieval cuisine includes the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, a period roughly dating from the 5th to the 16th century...
and Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
. Filmed in 2009 but first broadcast 4 January 2010, Portillo presented Great British Railway Journeys
Great British Railway Journeys
Great British Railway Journeys is a BBC travel documentary television series presented by Michael Portillo. The series premiered on 4 January 2010 on BBC Two, running for 20 half-hour episodes....
in which he explored, with the aid of George Bradshaw
George Bradshaw
George Bradshaw was an English cartographer, printer and publisher. He is best known for developing the most successful and longest published series of combined railway timetables.-Biography:...
's 1840 railway guidebook, how the railways had a profound influence on the social, economic and political history of Britain. A second series was broadcast on BBC2 during 2011.
In September 2011 he presented a two-part series on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
entitled Capitalism on Trial.
Portillo has written a regular column for The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, contributes to other journals (he was a theatre critic for the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
until May 2006), and is a regular radio broadcaster in the UK.
Charitable and voluntary activities
Since 1998, Portillo has been a Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing PersonsInternational Commission on Missing Persons
The International Commission on Missing Persons addresses the issue of persons missing as a result of armed conflicts, violations of human rights and natural disasters...
(ICMP). He is a trustee of the charity The Parliamentary Committee Against Anti-Semitism, and also President of DebRA, a British national charity working on behalf of people with the genetic skin blistering condition, Epidermolysis Bullosa
Epidermolysis bullosa
Epidermolysis bullosa is an inherited connective tissue disease causing blisters in the skin and mucosal membranes, with an incidence of 1/50,000. Its severity ranges from mild to lethal. It is caused by a mutation in the keratin or collagen gene....
(EB).
Portillo is the British chairman of the Anglo-Spanish organisation Tertulias, which organises annual meetings between the two countries. He is also a Vice President of Canning House, the Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
& Luso
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian Council.
Arts Endowment Fund
On 4 July 2011 it was announced that Portillo will chair a new £55m Arts Endowment Fund, to be supported by the Arts CouncilArts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
, the Heritage Lottery Fund
Heritage Lottery Fund
The Heritage Lottery Fund is a fund established in the United Kingdom under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993. The Fund opened for applications in 1994. It uses money raised through the National Lottery to transform and sustain the UK’s heritage...
and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is a department of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for culture and sport in England, and some aspects of the media throughout the whole UK, such as broadcasting and internet....
. Applicants will be able to bid for grants of between £500,000 and £5m, which must be matched from the private sector. Applications are expected to begin in September 2011.
Further reading
- Michael GoveMichael GoveMichael Andrew Gove, MP is a British politician, who currently serves as the Secretary of State for Education and as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Surrey Heath constituency. He is also a published author and former journalist.Born in Edinburgh, Gove was raised in Aberdeen...
, (1995), "Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right" ISBN 1857023358 - Michael Gove, (2000), "Michael Portillo", Fourth Estate, 448 pages, ISBN 1-84115-363-X (paperback)
External links
- Portillo's columns for The Sunday Times
- Guardian Unlimited Politics Ask Aristotle – Michael Portillo
- They Work For You – Michael Portillo
- The Public Whip – Michael Portillo voting record
- Harrow County Grammar School
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