'Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo' (born
26 May 1953) is an
English journalist, broadcaster, and former
Conservative party politician and Cabinet Minister.
Early life
Born 'Michael Denzil Portillo' in
Bushey in
Hertfordshire,
England, Portillo took the name 'Xavier' at confirmation. His father was an exiled
Spanish republican, Luis Gabriel Portillo, and his mother, the former Cora Blyth, is of
Scottish extraction. 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
Harrow County School for Boys[1] and then won a scholarship to
Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he came under the influence of
Maurice Cowling.
[2]
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 safe Labour seat of
Birmingham Perry Barr, losing against
Jeff Rooker.
Member of Parliament
He returned to advisory work for the government and in December 1984 he stood for and won the Enfield Southgate by-election following the murder of the incumbent, Sir
Anthony Berry, in the bombing by the
IRA of the
Grand Hotel in
Brighton, England.
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 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.
The Defence Secretary job was seen by some as a reward for his cautious loyalty to Major during the leadership challenge of
John Redwood, following Major's 'back me or sack me' resignation as party leader in 1995. Portillo was urged by many to stand himself against Major, and some embarrassment was incurred when it transpired that a potential campaign HQ with banks of telephone lines had been set up. Portillo was to admit later 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.'
[3] Portillo's apparent equivocation at this time was later seized on by his opponents within the party as a mark of his indecisiveness.
As
Defence Secretary Portillo opposed the admission of homosexuals to the Armed Forces. He also invited criticism by invoking the
motto of the
SAS, "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 election 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 (as at the head of this article) have become iconic in symbolising the end of the 'Thatcher era' (as prolonged by John Major) of Conservative rule in the UK.
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
BBC 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 to youthful homosexual dalliances. 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".
[4] 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:
★ ''The next Conservative Government will respect the independence of the
Bank of England and will legislate to enhance that independence and increase accountability to Parliament.''
★ ''The next Conservative Government will not repeal the
national minimum wage.''
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 election 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 youthful 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.
[5]
In November 2003 Portillo announced that he would not seek re-election and stepped down from the House of Commons at the
2005 general election.
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. Until 2006, he was also a
non-executive director of
BAE Systems plc. He stepped down from that position in March 2006 owing to potential conflicts of interest
[6].
Since 2003, Portillo has appeared in the
BBC weekly political discussion programme ''
This Week'' with
Andrew Neil and the 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'' — but not in the title roles.
[7] Later, whilst still at school, Portillo cast Abbott in a film version of ''
Macbeth'', but the film was never completed.
7 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 Channel 4 (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).
[8] 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. Now (2007) in its fifth series, his guests have included
Bianca Jagger,
Grayson Perry,
Francis Wheen,
Seymour Hersh,
PD James, Baroness
Shirley Williams,
George Galloway and
Germaine Greer.
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.
Portillo writes 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.
Personal life
Portillo married Carolyn Eadie in
1982; they have no children.
Since 1998, Portillo has been a Commissioner of the
International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).
References
1. Old Gaytonians in Politics
2. CV: Michael Portillo
3. ''Believe me, Mr Miliband, No 10 is within your grasp'', article by Portillo in The Sunday Times, 15 April, 2007.
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/456555.stm
5. http://www.stopwar.org.uk/new/resources/mpnames.htm
6. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9067-2106253,00.html
7. This detail, correcting an error, was added by Clive Anderson on 2 July 2007, as an example of the workings of this site, during the making of ''Factual: The Wikipedia Story'' (BBC Radio 4), first broadcast on 24 July 2007. Anderson was at school with Abbott and Portillo; the issue of 'original research' was not raised in the programme itself.
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/reviews/3195040.stm
Further reading
★
Michael Gove, (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
★
Michael Portillo official site
★
Guardian Unlimited Politics Ask Aristotle - Michael Portillo
★
They Work For You - Michael Portillo
★
The Public Whip - Michael Portillo voting record
★
Harrow County Grammar School
Offices held
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