Michael Portillo and Andalucía

From villain to saint, from zero to hero; has there ever been such a dramatic conversion in the history of mankind?

Saul to Paul on the Road to Damascus comes close, I guess.

Michael Portillo, the epitome of a right-wing nasty politician, this son of a Spanish republican in exile from his homeland and a Scottish mother, has transformed himself into a well-liked travel presenter and occasional benign political commentator.

Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo, known on his passport as Miguel Portillo y Blyth, was born in Bushy, Hertfordshire, in 1953 (currently aged 70) and was first elected to the House of Commons as an MP in 1984.

He became Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Margaret Thatcher and subsequently Employment Secretary. He was Defence Secretary in John Major’s government following the demise of “The Iron Lady”.

Portillo was forthright and controversial and not popular, but he was a Tory in a safe seat, the Enfield Southgate constituency. Until 1997 when he and most of the nation were “gobsmacked” when he was ousted by Labour candidate Stephen Twigg.

He got a gig as the presenter of a travel programme using the train network, first in the UK and then abroad. There is a memorable programme where he travels on the Al Andalus Express and calls in on Ronda, the town where I have lived for over 15 years.

He has now moved on to be host of a new TV programme called 'Andalucía con Michael Portillo', a production by AMC Networks International in which he tours southern Spain, now his home.  

After starring, at the age of six, in a TV commercial for the drink Ribena, Michael Portillo obtained a first class degree in history from the University of Cambridge.

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

First elected to the House of Commons in 1984, 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, as a reward, was subsequently promoted to Secretary of State for Defence.

Portillo unexpectedly lost the hitherto 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 third behind Iain Duncan Smith and Kenneth Clarke.

He retired from the House of Commonsand from active politics at the 2005 general election.

Now living in Carmona, near Sevilla, Portillo has fashioned a new life. 

He is a well-respected travel presenter. In an interview given to journalist Rosa Palo of Diario Sur, published on Sunday 21 April 2024, he talks of his two lives, first as a politician and then as a TV presenter.

He reminisces about his father, Luis Gabriel Portillo, a republican politician in Spain, who sought exile in the UK as Franco came to power in 1939.

He also talks about his new television venture 'Andalucía con Michael Portillo', a production for Spanish TV in which he tours southern Spain.

Fluent in Spanish he now lives in Carmona and enjoys his time with local friends. He plans to stay put when he retires.

“Me encanta la vida que tengo y no puedo pensar en variarla,” he says in his perfect Spanish. (I love the life I have and cannot imagine changing it).