Needless to say I’d really prefer that the Tory party remained moribund for a generation to come. But for those who wish otherwise it’s a very good sign that Michael Portillo (odds-on favorite to succeed William Hague) has decided to throw his hat in the ring. (And, no, put that fancy Spanish pronunciation back where you found it — it’s pronounced PORT-I-LOW.) Portillo very likely would have become Conservative party leader after John Major but for the humiliating happenstance that Portillo himself was voted out of office in the 1997 Labour landslide. At the time Portillo was Defense Secretary.
That night in 1997 I remember watching Portillo give what we’d call his concession speech. It was simply one of the classiest, most impressive performances under duress and pressure I’ve ever seen.
Portillo would also seem to have what the Tories need now to get up off their backs. He’s a one-time Thatcherite, who moved to the center after losing his seat in the Commons in 1997. He’s embraced what he sometimes (embarrassingly) calls ‘compassionate conservatism’, but in a way that actually appears to have some content (unlike some other people). Finally, at a time when the Tories are being pilloried for appearing intolerant, exclusionary and even isolationist (with regards to Europe), Portillo has credentials which instantly inoculate him: he’s the son of a Spanish immigrant (the fact that his dad was an anti-Franco refugee is a nice touch) so it’s hard to see him as anti-immigrant or anti-Europe. And he’s also admitted to having had a series of homosexual relationships while in college — which certainly takes some of the edge off the normal Tory starchiness.
And let’s be frank: having sharp looks and an appealing manner is no small thing for a politician. Especially when your predecessor looked less like an opposition leader than a preening lemur.
Still considering throwing his hat in the ring to oppose Mr. Portillo (and apparently enjoying the support of Baroness Thatcher herself) is the current shadow Defense SecretaryIain Duncan Smith. That makes a certain amount of sense of course since what the Tories really need today is a youngish, uppity, balding, anti-Europe Thatcherite to restore the party’s fortunes.
