
Michael Portillo
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

Coastal Devon & Cornwall with Michael Portillo

Great British Railway Journeys

Great Coastal Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo's Long Weekends

Michael Portillo's Travel Diaries

Portillo's Andalucia

Prague with Michael Portillo

Sunday with Michael Portillo

Madrid with Michael Portillo

Great Alaskan Railroad Journeys

Great American Railroad Journeys

Great Asian Railway Journeys

Great Australian Railway Journeys

Great Canadian Railway Journeys

Great Indian Railway Journeys

Hawks and Doves: The Crown and Ireland's War of Independence

Portillo's Empire Journey

Portillo's Greatest Railway Journeys

Portillo's Hidden History of Britain

Portillo's State Secrets

Portillo: The Trouble with the Tories

Portugal with Michael Portillo

Railways of the Great War

The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo
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