Post your guilty secret here.

Portillo is an excellent broadcaster, IMHO.

I’m currently wearing a red football shirt.
Politically, I'm as far away from Portillo as can be. However, you are completely correct - he's a great broadcaster and he was brilliant on the much-missed This Week and also on his various travel journeys.

My wife got me tickets to go an see him at Buxton Opera House and he basically was on stage for a couple of hours talking. His family background is fascinating - his family was on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and his parents fled the country to the UK. He was very funny and quite hard on his time in politics. He is still a Conservative, but he is someone who has the humility to accept he wasn't good at it.

He was great talking about the train journeys - basically, they got him to do things he wasn't good at and kind of caught him out a lot which made it look even worse! It was a great show and definitely worth seeing if you can get the chance.

Funnily enough, he popped into the boozer we were at afterwards and had a quick chat with him. He was a gent, and very accomodating for questions and pictures.

I always had this image in my head when I was younger that he would be an awful person, but he was very much the opposite. I do think politics needs more people who have "failed" at it to be in it!
 
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Politically, I'm as far away from Portillo as can be. However, you are completely correct - he's a great broadcaster and he was brilliant on the much-missed This Week and also on his various travel journeys.

My wife got me tickets to go an see him at Buxton Opera House and he basically was on stage for a couple of hours talking. His family background is fascinating - his family was on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and he fled the country to the UK.
You're obviously a fan of his and I'm not knocking you for that, but I can't stand the bloke. He was actually born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, so he didn't actually flee anywhere.

He was always a vein bastard, ex Harrow school and Peterhouse Cambridge University... but his biggest "crime" for me was his huge support for the poll tax, immensely unpopular with working class people, but very popular with the well off, and in general the adoration of Thatcher & Norman Tebbit. Eurosceptic as well.

I like trains and train journeys so I wish they'd got someone else to do these.

His lime green jackets and orange pants together with posh upper class accent makes me feel slightly nauseous..
 
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You're obviously a fan of his and I'm not knocking you for that, but I can't stand the bloke. He was actually born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, so he didn't actually flee anywhere.

He was always a vein bastard, ex Harrow school and Peterhouse Cambridge University... but his biggest "crime" for me was his huge support for the poll tax, immensely unpopular with working class people, but very popular with the well off, and in general the adoration of Thatcher & Norman Tebbit.

I like trains and train journeys so I wish they'd got someone else to do these.

His lime green jackets and orange pants together with posh upper class accent makes me feel slightly nauseous..
Sorry Bill, I meant his parents/family not him so I've updated my post for that - cheers! Something like his Dad's brother fought for one side and his Dad the other.

When I got the tickets for the show, I was a bit 'annoyed' my wife had given him money :) however, he did seem to be genuinely reflective of his time in politics. I think age has maybe mellowed him (could be me giving him the benefit of doubt too). I certainly remember the days where my parents struggled under the Government he served in.

I wouldn't say I'm a "fan" as such, but I can appreciate it when someone speaks about their life experiences. I might not like it, or agree with it, but he was very interesting and put his points across well enough.
 
Politically, I'm as far away from Portillo as can be. However, you are completely correct - he's a great broadcaster and he was brilliant on the much-missed This Week and also on his various travel journeys.

My wife got me tickets to go an see him at Buxton Opera House and he basically was on stage for a couple of hours talking. His family background is fascinating - his family was on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and his parents fled the country to the UK. He was very funny and quite hard on his time in politics. He is still a Conservative, but he is someone who has the humility to accept he wasn't good at it.

He was great talking about the train journeys - basically, they got him to do things he wasn't good at and kind of caught him out a lot which made it look even worse! It was a great show and definitely worth seeing if you can get the chance.

Funnily enough, he popped into the boozer we were at afterwards and had a quick chat with him. He was a gent, and very accomodating for questions and pictures.

I always had this image in my head when I was younger that he would be an awful person, but he was very much the opposite. I do think politics needs more people who have "failed" at it to be in it!
Some of us with longer memories recall Portillo as a member of the Tory government in 1988 which supported the introduction of anti-gay legislation that came to be known as Clause 28. This, from someone who subsequently admitted to having had 'homosexual experiences as a young man' but only when threatened with being outed as a gay man. In 1990, Portillo was appointed Minister of State for Local Government when he argued in favour of the Poll Tax, legislation so hated by the public, it resulted in widespread riots.
His Spanish father was a devout socialist who fought fascism but was forced to flee Franco's regime for the UK in fear of his life. Despite this, Portillo consistently positioned himself on the right wing of the political spectrum.
Portillo might well be warm and courteous when meeting the public but he is the epitome of a hypocrite and an insult to his father's memory. Being 'an excellent broadcaster' doesn't absolve the bastard of the sins of his past. Not only that but his dress-sense is fucking dreadful!
Phew. Rant over.
 

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