What is Michael Portillo?
{{BLP sources|date=May 2012}} [[File:Michael Portillo by Regents College cropped.jpg|thumb|Michael Portillo in 2008]] '''Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo''' (born 26 May 1953) is a [[British people|British]] television presenter and former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] [[politician]]. Michael Portillo was born in [[Bushey]], [[Hertfordshire]], to a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] mother and [[Spain|Spanish]] father. Portillo first became a [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) in a [[by-election]] in 1984, representing the [[constituency]] of Enfield Southgate. He very much liked [[Margaret Thatcher]]s policies and was quite Eurosceptic, meaning that he was against the [[European Union]]. He became a cabinet member in 1992, holding the following positions: Chief Secretary to the Treasury (April 1992 - July 1994), Secretary of State for Employment (July 1994 - July 1995) and Defence Secretary (July 1995 - May 1997). Many people thought he would try to become the leader of the Conservative Party in 1995 but he chose to stay loyal to [[John Major]]. At the 1997 General Election, Portillo lost his seat in the House of Commons to the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. Portillo returned to the House of Commons after winning a by-election in 1999 for the constituency of Kensington and Chelsea. He then started to re-think many of his ideas and began to argue for a more socially [[liberalism|liberal]] Conservative Party. He became the [[shadow minister|Shadow]] [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in February 2000 but he did not have a good relationship with party leader [[William Hague]]. He was a candidate in the 2001 Conservative Party leadership contest; he lost to [[Iain Duncan Smith]]. Portillo left the House of Commons at the 2005 General Election and has since hosted several television and radio programmes. == Other websites == *{{imdb|1414326}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Portillo, Michael}} [[Category:1953 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British television presenters]] [[Category:Conservative Party (UK) M