The early hours of the morning of Friday 2 May 1997 could not have been easy for Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo. In the full glare of live television coverage, the defence secretary had very publicly lost his seat in parliament to Labour newcomer Stephen Twigg. As the Conservative general election defeat had grown increasingly likely, Portillo had been seen as the probable favourite to succeed John Major, the fallen prime minister, as Tory leader. Now these plans lay in ruins.
His defeat was greeted with open jubilation by many viewers. “Were you up for Portillo?” almost became a catchphrase in the days afterwards, a landmark moment in what Portillo himself admitted was “a terrible night for the Conservatives”. In years to come, it would be voted a “top TV moment”. Portillo, forewarned of the likely result, had generally maintained his composure as his defeat was announced. But at just 43, his career seemed to be over.
In fact, this wasn’t true. He would be an MP again between 1999 and 2005 although arguably his career never really recovered from his 1997 setback. Today, he has left the political arena well behind him and flourishes as a popular, if eccentrically dressed, television presenter of travel documentaries.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2023 من Best of British.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 2023 من Best of British.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
"A Personal Stab of Shock and Horror"
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Claire Saul samples some of the entries in a new publication from the National Trust
ON TARGET
Russell Cook browses through 50 years of a publishing phenomenon
The Rise and Fall of Poole Pottery
Steve Annandale charts the history of what was, by the 1990s, Dorset's most significant tourist attraction
DOCTOR HO-HO!
Robert Ross takes a swift spin through some of the comedy stars who have stumbled into the Tardis
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A RARE OLD SCRAMBLE
Colin Allan has fond memories of tuning in to Grandstand to watch scrambling on winter afternoons in the sport's golden age of the 1960s
THE ULTIMATE RESPONSE
Roger Harvey nominates a sculpture in his native Newcastle as the most poignant and powerful memorial to duty and heroism
POSTCARD FROM CHESHIRE
Bob Barton finds out about subsidence, timber-framed buildings, boat lifts, waterways and Lewis Carroll, taking it all with a pinch of salt
OVER HERE
Michael Foley looks back at how the people of East Anglia reacted to the American \"invasion\" during World War Two that saw the building of dozens of airfields