Michael Portillo



Profile:
Full name: Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo

Area of interest: Politics

Journals: The Sunday Times

Email: [mailto:michael@michaelportillo.co.uk michael@michaelportillo.co.uk]

Website/blog: MichaelPortillo.co.uk

Agent:



Biography:
Education: Harrow County Grammar School; Peterhouse, Cambridge: History (first class)

Career: Shippng company, Ocean Transport and Trading Co.; Conservative Research Department CRD, 1976; after Conservative Party victory, 1979, government adviser; returned Kerr-McGee Oil, 1981/83; stood for Birmingham Perry Barrin seat, general election, 1983 (losing to Jeff Rooker); government special adviser (to Nigel Lawson); won Enfield Southgate by-election, December 1984 (incumbent, Sir Anthony Berry, killed by the IRA in the Brighton hotel bombing); Parliamentary Private Secretaryto John Moore and then an assistant whip; Under Secretary for Social Security, 1987; Minister of State for Transport, 1988; Local Government portfolio, 1990; Serving under John Major: Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 1992; Secretary of State for Employment, 1994; Secretary of State for Defence, 1995/97); lost the Enfield Southgate seat to Stephen Twigg, general election, 1997; returned to advise Kerr McGee; began a media career: a weekly column in The Scotsman; a series for Channel 4, Portillo's Progress; programme in BBC2’s Great Railway Journeys series - partly a biography of his late father; radio programmes on wagner and the Spanish Civil War; re-elected to Parliament as MP for Kensington and Chelsea, November 1999; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, February 2000/September 2001; unsuccessfully contested the leadership of the party after the Conservative election defeat of 2001; left the House of Commons, 2005; continues his media career

Current position: Sunday Times' Columnist; Co-host on BBC's This Week politics programme

Advisory/Other posts:

Viewpoints/Insight: Farewell politics, hello celebrity, Michael White, The Guardian, 2003; The transformation of Michael Portillo: Less power - but a lot more fun, interview with Ian Burrell, The Independent, 2006

TV/Radio: BBC4 discussion programme, Dinner with Portillo, since 2002 - now in fifth series (2007); See Michael Portillo.co.uk: Broadcast / documentaries clips; See IMDb

Controversy: In a Times' interview in 1999 he admitted to youthful homosexual dalliances

Books: Michael Gove's biography of Michael Portillo, (Fourth Estate, 1995) ISBN 1857023358

Latest work:

Awards/Honours:

Speaking/Appearances: Michael Portillo.co.uk: Forthcoming events; The Lonon Speaker Bureau; The Edge

Other: His wife Carolyn is a chartered accountant - for the last fifteen years has been a 'headhunter' with Spencer Stuart Associates



The Sunday Times:
Column remit: Politics

Section: Features

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: michael.portillo@sunday-times.co.uk

Website: TimesOnline

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1300 words



Articles:

 * PM — that looked like a flinch'' - What I know is that the success or failure of the spending round rests on the cabinet’s belief that the prime minister will not falter - 15th August 2010
 * hurt the most in this crisis'' - Lack of clarity has bedevilled the party since Thatcher, and it is getting a little late to resolve it now - 21st February 2010
 * Cameron gets No 10'' - Who will win the election? That’s hard to answer. Who will be prime minister after it? That's easier: David Cameron - 27th December 2009
 * clear aim will save British lives'' - The mushrooming of war aims in Afghanistan has befuddled the public. Everyone is confused about what Britain is fighting for - 6th September 2009
 * idle should be entitled to nothing'' - The unrealisable hope of winning the lottery or appearing on Big Brother has supplanted the traditional appetite for qualifications and careers - 30th August 2009
 * there was a deal with Libya, it stinks'' - Everything about Lockerbie, up to and including the release from prison of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi has always been murky - 23rd August 2009
 * and lazy at the wicket, as in life'' - The financial crisis was caused partly because instant gratification is part of the national psyche - 16th August 2009
 * business: to save parliament'' - The hostility Bercow faces from the Tories is absurd - 9th August 2009
 * army’s been hit by Brown’s unfriendly fire'' - Gordon Brown is now to be seen contradicting those who command the soldiers sacrificing limb and life in Helmand - 26th July 2009
 * Johnson alone can stop the Tories'' - There ought to be no doubt about the result of the next election. Labour should be a shoo-in - 31st May 2009
 * tames our little despots'' - If the home secretary were a pet, she would be taken to the vet for a painless end - 19th April 2009
 * Gordon fails to see the rage at home'' - Perhaps the heady pleasure of international recognition leads a leader to despise, or at least neglect, domestic concerns - 12th April 2009
 * can smell a rat behind Brown'' - The prime minister's rhetoric and lack of candour stand between him and the shopfloor worker - 8th March 2009
 * busy, Mr Cameron, victory isn’t certain'' - With experts in turmoil, voters know nobody has the answer, so Cameron must instead offer vision - 22nd February 2009
 * can’t bully a saver into spending'' - The government’s abandonment of its own borrowing rules intensifies their sense of crisis - 11th January 2009
 * opens a euro trap for Brown'' - The government has risen in the polls. That should shame the Tories - 4th January 2009
 * Land tops pile in the in-tray from hell'' - The MIddle East issue has been dogged by weak leadership in America, in Israel and among the Palestinians - 28th December 2008
 * has lost the stomach for a fight'' - British commanders underestimated both the enemy’s effectiveness and the Americans’ ability to adapt - 21st December 2008
 * deadly weapon Cameron daren’t use'' - Kenneth Clarke has what his party’s front bench lacks: a combination of independent-mindedness, experience and gravitas - 14th December 2008
 * call a snap election, Gordon'' - If voters think Gordon Brown is a decisive leader and don’t believe that he caused the mess we are in, then the Tories have real problems - 2nd November 2008
 * fallen into Salmond’s tax trap'' - In local taxation Alex Salmond has found the perfect subject to stoke Scottish resentment - 7th September 2008
 * has used up his inheritance'' - The PM remains anchored on the middle ground but if Labour loses the election it will again drift off to the left towards political obscurity - 24th August 2008
 * world role for Britain slips away'' - With Gordon Brown presiding over a shrinking foreign policy, could Britain become invisible on the world stage? - 17th August 2008
 * Brown will kill Labour, Mr Miliband'' - Resorting to three prime ministers in 15 months looks desperate, however you dress it up - 3rd August 2008


 * archive

