53 Facts About Michael Portillo

Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative politician.

Michael Portillo began his working life as a graduate trainee with the transport company Ocean Group plc, before joining the Conservative Research Department in 1976.

Michael Portillo was promoted to Secretary of State for Employment in 1994.

Michael Portillo unexpectedly lost the hitherto safe Conservative Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 general election.

Michael Portillo retired from the House of Commons and from active politics at the 2005 general election.

Since leaving politics, Michael Portillo has pursued his media interests by presenting and participating in a wide range of television and radio programmes.

Michael Portillo's father, a devout Catholic, was a member of left-wing movements in the 1930s and fled Madrid when it fell to General Franco in 1939, settling in England.

Michael Portillo became head of the London Diplomatic Office of the Government in Exile in 1972.

Michael Portillo's maternal grandfather, John Waldegrave Blyth, was a prosperous linen manufacturer from Kirkcaldy, who left an art collection worth millions to the Kirkcaldy Galleries.

Michael Portillo was registered as a Spanish citizen at the age of four, and, in accordance with Spanish naming customs, which require a person to have two surnames, his Spanish passport names him as Miguel Michael Portillo Blyth.

In 1961, aged eight, Michael Portillo appeared in a television advertisement for Ribena, a blackcurrant cordial drink.

Michael Portillo was educated at Stanburn Primary School in Stanmore, Greater London, and Harrow County School for Boys and then won a scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied history.

Michael Portillo graduated in 1975 with a first-class degree in history, and, after a brief stint with Ocean Transport and Trading Ltd.

Michael Portillo left to work for Kerr-McGee Oil between 1981 and 1983.

Michael Portillo 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 of the Grand Hotel, Brighton by the IRA.

In 1987, Michael Portillo was given his first ministerial post, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security; the following year, he was promoted to Minister of State for Transport.

Michael Portillo has stated that he considers "saving the Settle to Carlisle railway" to be his greatest achievement.

In 1990, Michael Portillo was appointed Minister of State for Local Government, in which post he argued in favour of the ultimately highly unpopular Community Charge system.

Michael Portillo demonstrated a consistently right-of-centre line and was favoured by Norman Tebbit and Margaret Thatcher, who said of him "[W]e expect great things of you, do not disappoint us".

Michael Portillo's rise continued under John Major; he was made a Cabinet Minister in 1992 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and was admitted to the Privy Council the same year.

Michael Portillo subsequently became Secretary of State for Employment, and then Secretary of State for Defence.

Michael Portillo was accused of vanity when the Alexandra Palace was hired to celebrate his ten years in politics.

Many urged Michael Portillo, the "darling of the right", to run against Major.

Michael Portillo declined to enter the first round, but planned to challenge Major if the contest went to a second round.

Michael Portillo had a memorable interview with Jeremy Paxman on election night, prior to the result being called in his own seat.

Michael Portillo has since revealed that, prior to the interview, he had already come to believe he had lost his seat:.

Michael Portillo comfortably won the by-election in late November 1999 to represent Kensington and Chelsea, traditionally one of the safest Conservative seats.

When Duncan Smith was elected leader, Michael Portillo returned to the backbenches.

Michael Portillo did not seek re-election in the 2005 general election.

Michael Portillo supported Brexit, though he expressed the opinion that in the British system, where Parliament is sovereign, the 2016 Brexit referendum "absolutely does not fit with our system" and that "parliament has the right to interpret" the result.

In September 2002, Michael Portillo became a non-executive director of the multinational defence contractor BAE Systems.

Michael Portillo stepped down from that position in March 2006, owing to potential conflicts of interest.

Michael Portillo was a member of the board of the Kerr-McGee Corporation for a few months in 2006.

Between its inception in 2003 and cancellation in 2019, Michael Portillo appeared in the BBC weekly political discussion programme This Week with Andrew Neil, and, until September 2010, Labour MP Diane Abbott.

Michael Portillo chose to present Queen Elizabeth I for the BBC's series of Great Britons in 2002.

Michael Portillo's guests included Bianca Jagger, Grayson Perry, Francis Wheen, Seymour Hersh, PD James, Baroness Williams, George Galloway, Benazir Bhutto and Germaine Greer.

The documentary How To Kill a Human Being in the Horizon series featured Michael Portillo carrying out a survey of capital punishment methods, in an attempt to find an 'acceptable' form of capital punishment.

In 2008, Michael Portillo made a documentary as part of the BBC Headroom campaign, which explored mental health issues.

Michael Portillo presented a similar television series called Great Continental Railway Journeys, following Michael Portillo around continental Europe.

In early 2016, Michael Portillo began a new BBC travel documentary series Great American Railroad Journeys, which saw him travelling across the United States by rail.

In 2020, as part of his Great Continental Railway Journeys, in the "Salamanca to Canfranc", whilst in Salamanca, Michael Portillo was given access to papers about his father held at the General Archive of the Spanish Civil War.

In early 2022 Michael Portillo filled a guest spot on the GB News show, The Political Correction, after which he was invited to host his own weekend political show Michael Portillo, which started airing on 2 October 2022.

Michael Portillo has written a regular column for The Sunday Times, contributes to other journals, and is a regular radio broadcaster on UK radio.

Michael Portillo is a long-serving member of the panel in the BBC Radio 4 series The Moral Maze.

Michael Portillo has presented a history series on BBC Radio 4 called The Things We Forgot to Remember.

On 7 May 2020, it was announced that Michael Portillo would join the new digital station Times Radio, which launched in June 2020.

Since 1998, Michael Portillo has been a Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons.

Michael Portillo is President of DEBRA, a British charity working on behalf of people with epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic skin blistering condition.

Michael Portillo served as chairman of the 2008 Man Booker Prize committee.

In 2011, Michael Portillo became chairman of a new arts endowment fund supported by the Arts Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Michael Portillo is the British chairman of the Anglo-Spanish organisation Tertulias, which organises annual meetings between the two countries.

Michael Portillo is an Honorary Vice-President of Canning House, the Hispanic and Luso Brazilian Council.

Michael Portillo has a strong interest in contemporary visual arts and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of British Artists, an educational arts charity.