Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo

CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
GenderMale
Birthdaymai 26, 1953
BiographyMichael Denzil Xavier Portillo ( por-TIL-oh; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005, holding a number of ministerial and Cabinet positions.

Portillo obtained a first-class degree in history from the University of Cambridge, having been a student at Peterhouse. He began his working life as a graduate trainee with the transport company Ocean Group plc, before joining the Conservative Research Department (CRD) in 1976. First elected to the House of Commons in a 1984 by-election, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, before entering the Cabinet in 1992 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He was promoted to Secretary of State for Employment in 1994. A Thatcherite and a Eurosceptic, he was seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election, but did not stand, and was subsequently promoted to Secretary of State for Defence. As Defence Secretary, he pressed for a course of "clear blue water": purist policies separating the Conservatives from the Labour Party.

Portillo unexpectedly lost the theretofore safe Conservative Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 general election. This led to the coining of the expression "Portillo moment". Returning to the Commons in the 1999 by-election in Kensington and Chelsea, Portillo rejoined the frontbench as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Standing for the leadership of the party in 2001, he came in third place behind Iain Duncan Smith and Kenneth Clarke. He retired from the House of Commons and from active politics at the 2005 general election.

Since leaving politics, Portillo has pursued his media interests by presenting and participating in a wide range of television and radio programmes. Portillo's passion for steam trains led him to make the BBC documentary series Great British Railway Journeys, beginning in 2010, in which he travels the British railway networks, referring to various editions of Bradshaw's Guide. The success of the show led Portillo to present series about railway systems in other countries. In 2022 he began to present a political show Portillo for the British news channel GB News.

Biography from the Wikipedia article Michael Portillo. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
The Assassin
Running

The Assassin

Secluded on a remote Greek island, retired assassin Julie has a somewhat thorny reunion with her estranged son, Edward, visiting from England. Armed with questions around new information on his paternity, Edward battles to find the right time to speak to his frustratingly distant mother. But, when the moment finally presents itself, things take a deadly turn as Julie's dangerous past catches up with her and they are forced to flee the island and go on the run together.

Edward's quest for truth clashes with Julie's secrecy whilst they are forced to work together in a fight for survival, testing their dysfunctional relationship to its limits. Amid uncovering a dark conspiracy they believe to be their only threat, a greater danger emerges that will destroy their relationship entirely. In a race against time, Julie fights to save Edward and salvage their relationship as past and present collide in a showdown across the globe…

Revival
Running

Revival

Revival is set on one miraculous day in rural Wisconsin when the recently deceased suddenly rise from their graves. But this is no zombie story as the "revived" appear and act just like they once were. When local Officer and single mother Dana Cypress is unexpectedly thrown into the center of a brutal murder mystery of her own, she's left to make sense of the chaos amidst a town gripped by fear and confusion where everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.

Lost Treasures of Egypt
Running

Lost Treasures of Egypt

An immersive, action-packed series follows international teams of Egyptologists as they unearth the world's richest seam of ancient archaeology — Lost Treasures of Egypt. Through excavations and unprecedented access to the teams on the front line of archaeology, we follow these modern-day explorers as they battle searing heat and inhospitable terrain to make the discoveries of a lifetime.

GenreHistory
Karen Pirie
Running

Karen Pirie

True to Val McDermid's iconic character, DS Karen Pirie is a young and fearless Scottish investigator with a quick mouth and tenacious desire for the truth.

When teenager Rosie Duff was found brutally murdered in the Scottish university town of St Andrews in 1996, suspicion fell on the three drunken students who were discovered at the scene of the crime, claiming to have found her body. But with a lack of forensic evidence, no charges were brought and the police investigation floundered.

Twenty-five years on, someone appears to be willing to risk everything to keep the secrets surrounding the case hidden. Do the three men know more than they previously revealed? How flawed was the original investigation? And can Karen uncover the truth of what happened to Rosie that fateful night?

GenreDrama, Crime
The Diplomat
Running

The Diplomat

In the midst of an international crisis, a career diplomat lands in a high-profile job she's unsuited for, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.