Michael Portillo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Portillo
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Portillo in 2017
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| Secretary of State for Defence | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Malcolm Rifkind | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | George Robertson | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Employment | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 20 July 1994 – 5 July 1995 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | David Hunt | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Gillian Shephard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 11 April 1992 – 20 July 1994 |
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| Prime Minister | John Major | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | David Mellor | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Aitken | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo
26 May 1953 Bushey, Hertfordshire, England |
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| Citizenship |
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| Political party | Formerly Conservative | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Carolyn Claire Eadie
(m. 1982) |
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| Parent |
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| Education | Peterhouse, Cambridge (BA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Television | Great British Railway Journeys and other documentaries | ||||||||||||||||||||
Michael Portillo is a well-known British journalist, broadcaster, and former politician. He was a member of the Conservative Party. He is famous for his railway travel documentaries, like Great British Railway Journeys.
Portillo was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997. He also represented Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005. During his time as an MP, he held several important jobs in the government.
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Early life and education
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, England, on May 26, 1953. His father, Luis Gabriel Portillo, was from Spain, and his mother, Cora Waldegrave de Portillo, was from Scotland. His father had to leave Spain in 1939 and settled in England.
When he was four, Michael became a Spanish citizen. His Spanish passport names him as Miguel Portillo Blyth. Michael's love for trains started when he was young. He had a toy train set and enjoyed long train trips with his mother to visit his grandparents. He also loved the steam railway on the Isle of Wight.
In 1961, at age eight, Portillo appeared in a TV advertisement for Ribena, a blackcurrant drink. He went to Stanburn Primary School and Harrow County School for Boys. He then received a scholarship to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied history. In 1982, Portillo married Carolyn Claire Eadie.
Political career (1984–2005)
Portillo finished his history degree in 1975. After a short time working for a shipping company, he joined the Conservative Research Department in 1976. After the Conservatives won the 1979 election, he became a government adviser. He later worked for an oil company before running for election.
Becoming an MP
In the 1983 general election, Portillo ran for the first time in Birmingham Perry Barr but did not win. He returned to advising the government. In December 1984, he won a special election in Enfield Southgate. This election happened after the previous MP, Sir Anthony Berry, died in the Brighton hotel bombing.
Working in government
In 1987, Portillo became a junior minister in the Department for Social Security. The next year, he was promoted to Minister of State for Transport. He said that saving the Settle to Carlisle railway was his greatest achievement.
Portillo continued to rise in politics under Prime Minister John Major. In 1992, he became a Cabinet Minister as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He then became Secretary of State for Employment (1994–95) and later Secretary of State for Defence (1995–1997).
As Defence Secretary, Portillo oversaw the sale of housing for military personnel. His high profile meant the media often paid attention to him.
1997 election defeat
In the 1997 United Kingdom general election, Portillo unexpectedly lost his Enfield Southgate seat to Stephen Twigg from the Labour Party. This was a big surprise because his seat was considered very safe for the Conservatives. His loss became a symbol of the large victory for the Labour Party in that election. People started using the phrase "Portillo moment" to describe a sudden and surprising political defeat.
Portillo later said that losing his seat helped him discover that there was "life and livelihood outside Westminster."
Return to Parliament
After the 1997 election, Portillo worked in media, including for the BBC and Channel 4. In November 1999, he won a special election to become the MP for Kensington and Chelsea. This allowed him to return to Parliament.
In February 2000, William Hague, the leader of the Conservative Party, made Portillo the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. This meant he was the main spokesperson for the Conservative Party on money matters.
2001 leadership election
After the 2001 United Kingdom general election, Portillo ran to become the leader of the Conservative Party. He did well in the first round of voting among Conservative MPs. However, he was eliminated in the final round, and Iain Duncan Smith became the new leader.
Leaving politics
When Iain Duncan Smith became leader, Portillo decided to step back from front-line politics. He did not run for re-election in the 2005 United Kingdom general election. Since then, he has not been actively involved in party politics.
Broadcasting career (1998–present)
Since leaving politics, Michael Portillo has become a very active and popular broadcaster. He presents and takes part in many TV and radio shows.
Television
In 1998, Portillo started his broadcasting career with Portillo's Progress on Channel 4. From 2002 onwards, he became a regular commentator and presenter of documentaries. He was a regular on the BBC political discussion show This Week until 2019.
Portillo has made many television documentaries. He presented a program about Spanish wildlife for BBC Two's The Natural World. He also presented a documentary about Queen Elizabeth I for the BBC's Great Britons series in 2002. In 2005, he presented Nelson's Trafalgar, a BBC documentary about Lord Nelson.
Between 2002 and 2007, he hosted Dinner with Portillo on BBC Four. In this show, he and seven guests discussed political and social topics over a meal.
Great Railway Journeys
In 2009, Portillo began filming Great British Railway Journeys. In this series, he travels Britain's railway networks using an old tourist handbook from 1863. The show explores how railways influenced Britain's history. The first series aired in 2010, and there have been many more series since.
Due to the show's success, Portillo started presenting similar series about railway systems in other countries. These include Great Continental Railway Journeys, Great American Railroad Journeys, Great Indian Railway Journeys, Great Alaskan and Canadian Railroad Journeys, Great Australian Railway Journeys, and Great Asian Railway Journeys. His most recent series, Great Coastal Railway Journeys, aired from January to May 2024.
Other television programmes presented by Portillo include:
- Portillo's State Secrets (BBC Two, 2015), where he looked at old classified documents.
- Portillo's Hidden History of Britain (Channel 5, 2018).
- Portillo's Empire Journey (Channel 5, 2020), telling the story of the British Empire.
- Coastal Devon & Cornwall with Michael Portillo (Channel 5, 2021).
- The Pyrenees with Michael Portillo (Channel 5, 2022).
- Portillo's Andalucia (Channel 5, 2023).
- Michael Portillo's Long Weekends (Channel 5, 2024), featuring European cities like Madrid, Prague, and Milan.
In 2022, Portillo started hosting his own political show called Portillo on the British news channel GB News.
Press and radio
Portillo has written columns for The Sunday Times and contributes to other magazines. He is also a regular radio broadcaster in the UK. He is a long-serving member of the panel on the BBC Radio 4 series The Moral Maze. He has presented history series on BBC Radio 4, including Things We Forgot to Remember.
In June 2020, he joined Times Radio, a new digital station. He hosts a Friday evening programme about politics, culture, and history.
Voluntary work
Since 1998, Portillo has been a Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). He is also the President of DEBRA, a British charity that helps people with a genetic skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa.
In 2011, Portillo became chairman of a new arts fund supported by the Arts Council. This fund helped arts and heritage organizations get grants. He is also the British chairman of Tertulias, an organization that holds annual meetings between the UK and Spain. He has a home in Carmona, Spain.
Portillo is interested in modern visual arts and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of British Artists. In 2018, he became President of the Friends of the Settle–Carlisle line, which is a railway line.
Honours
- Michael Portillo became a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1992. This gave him the title "The Right Honourable" for life.
- He received an Honorary Doctorate from Richmond, The American International University in London in 2003.
- In 2018, Portillo was made a fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (FRSGS).
- He has been awarded the Freedom of the City of London. He led the annual Sheep Drive over London Bridge on September 29, 2019.
See also
In Spanish: Michael Portillo para niños
- Electoral history of Michael Portillo
