Michael Portillo

Michael Portillo married Carolyn Claire Eadie in February 1982.

Michael Portillo was born on May 26, 1953, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, to Luis Gabriel Portillo and Cora Waldergrave. His father was a Spanish republican but was exiled from his own country. His mother was Scottish.

After landing in Britain, his father continued with politics. Although he was a conservative himself, he associated himself with the British left-wing parties in the 1930s. In 1972, he became the head of the London diplomatic office of the government in exile.

His family was extremely rich, as Michael’s grandfather owned a prosperous business and a linen mill. Growing up in the household with three older brothers, Michael earned a Spanish citizenship at the age of 4, along with a Spanish name.

While all his older brothers were interested in sports, Michael was not. Owing to his intellectual parents, Michael studied hard and also read books on general knowledge, which broadened his view of the world. He attended ‘Stanburn Primary School’ in Greater London and then attended ‘Harrow County School for Boys.’

He earned good grades in class, and that enabled him to earn a scholarship to the ‘Peterhouse College’ of the ‘University of Cambridge.’ As a teenager, he had a variety of interests that included politics, books, and cinema.

By the time he was 8 years of age, Michael had already made his mark. He appeared in a commercial for a cordial drink named ‘Ribena.’ He started his political career after he graduated in history with a first-class degree at the age of 22. Soon after his graduation, he started working at the ‘Ocean Transport and Trading Ltd.’

After a while, he joined the ‘Conservative Research Department’ in 1976. In 1979, the ‘Conservative Party’ came into the power and Michael got a job as an advisor for the department of energy.

He fought his first elections from Birmingham Perry Barr in 1983 but lost. In the mid-1980s, he fought an election for a place in the ‘House of Commons’ and ended up winning a seat for himself. Thus, he earned his first ministerial post in 1987.

In 1992, he was made the chief secretary to the treasury, and a couple of years later, he was promoted to the post of the secretary of state for employment. He then became the secretary of state for defense.

However, his political career was marred with criticism on many fronts. He was known to live an exuberant life and was known in the media as “Portaloo.” He once rented ‘Alexandra Palace’ to celebrate his decade-long career in politics. This gave rise to further allegations.

In the late 1990s, Michael Portillo made his TV debut with the show ‘Portillo’s Progress.’ The show offered a glimpse of the frequently changing political scenarios in Britain. He soon became addicted to lights and cameras. Following this, he focused on his stint with TV and radio.

He made appearances in many political documentaries such as ‘Great Britons’ in 2002. The ‘BBC’ show was about the greatest British personalities of all time. Michael chose to present Queen Elizabeth I.

In 2002, he began hosting the ‘BBC Four’ show ‘Dinner with Portillo.’ It was a show that featured political discussions, with Michael engaging in detailed conversations about contemporary politics with seven guests, over a four-course meal. Some of the guests on his show were Baroness Williams, Bianca Jagger, and Grayson Perry.

In 2008, he was involved in the production of a documentary film named ‘How to Kill a Human Being,’ in which he talked about the best way to execute capital punishment. The sole purpose of the documentary was to establish the best method for carrying out the death sentence, after asking the general public about the same.

The same year, he appeared in another ‘BBC’ documentary, ‘Headroom.’ It was a unique project that had famous people talking about their struggles with mental issues. In his section, Michael talked about how the suicide of a school friend had affected his mental health for a long time.