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.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom