Whatever Michael Portillo recommends it is usually wise to do the opposite

Michael Portillo's columns in The Sunday Times.  What is to be said about them?  This 'wisdom' appears in today's column:

"By and large, Cameron’s policy of daily saying the opposite of what you expect a Conservative to say is working well and the opinion polls reflect his success."

It is, of course, possible to see where Mr Portillo is coming from but his reading of Project Cameron is somewhat superficial.  On a range of issues - including the Human Rights Act, prisons policy, strengthening the family, police reform, free trade and secure borders - Mr Cameron is ploughing a traditionalist furrow.

Doing the opposite of what Mr Portillo recommends is actually a pretty good rule of thumb for any sensible Tory strategist.  Mr Cameron has already (wisely) spurned Mr Portillo's blood-on-the-carpet advice, his suggestion that Trident not be replaced and his recommendation that the party would be better off without "throwbacks" like John Redwood, IDS and Ken Clarke.  Mr Cameron also appears determined to reject today's recommendation - from the man who, in this arch sceptical days, told party conference that 'Europe isn't working' - that the Tory leader abandon his commitment to take Britain out of the EPP.  Mr Cameron's "foolish" commitment to leave the EPP "calls to mind Cameron’s description of the UK Independence party as “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”."

Within Michael Portillo's writing there is often a very personal, even bitter edge.  That's on display again in the way he concludes today's piece.  I don't think Michael Portillo has ever forgiven William Hague for winning the Tory leadership after the 1997 election - a leadership which Mr Portillo expected to inherit and probably would have done so if the voters of Enfield Southgate had not been so neglected by him.  Appearing not to understand that it is William Hague who is most cautious about the EPP pledge, Mr Portillo urges Mr Cameron to break his EPP pledge and so "shatter Hague’s credibility and force him to resign".  Mr Portillo describes the Shadow Foreign Secretary as "a Eurosceptic without the mitigation of also being a moderniser".  Mr Portillo is a rejected politician without the mitigation of possessing any humility. 

Comments

[TomTom]

When will the truth about Portillo come out ? He is such a weirdo that somewhere there is a story which we have so far only seen in fragments. He has a lot of personal scores to settle, but what went on when he worked in the Conservative Research Dept ?

Something is being held back and Portillo has something which drives him to make a complete fool of himself

[Andrew Woodman]

Portillo has no credibilty and no respect. His columns are like the ramblings of a bitter twisted drunk, blaming the world for the fact that he cocked his career up.

[Toryboy]

Its such a shame that Michael Portillo feels the need to attack such figures a William Hague just at a time when the Conservatives have just recovered their unity

It just proves Portillo is part of a bygone age and has no real influence today

[EdR]

Although I quite enjoy 'This Week' in which Portillo plays a big role, he has no credibility. He consistently makes the wrong calls and as his articles become shriller and more unhinged it just shows what a lucky escape the party really had in 1997 and 2001. He is to the Tory modernisers what Simon Heffer is to the Tory traditionalists.

[Richard]

Strange logic going on in Portilloland. He seems to think that being a Eurosceptic is OK provided that the Eurosceptic in question is a moderniser as well.

Furthermore, Portillo seems to imply that there are problems with the EU (he mentions its centralising tendencies) and the EPP (contains Federalists) but thinks that nothing should be done about it!

[Chris Palmer]

I always thought Michael would have been an excellent leader of the Conservative party - but there we go.

[Desmond Haynes]

The mainstream media like him because he can be relied upon to lay into other conservatives. Really, the same reason that the US media like John McCain.

[William]

The resignation of Portillo from Parliament was a sine qua non of the Party making any progress. He was the master of infighting, showing serial disloyalty to major, Hague and IDS (and Howard and Cameron in his ST column)

The end of Portillo has meant the coming of Cameron.

The Parliamentary Party is pulling as a coherent body for the first time since Maastricht. Portillo was a big part of why we've been out of power for so long.

The untold story of why he's been such a thorn in our side for so long can be told in due course. But the fact that he's gone is all that matters.

Maude nailed his colours to the disloyal Portillo mast. Cameron has seen fit to forgive him, and give him another chnace.

[Richard]

"The untold story of why he's been such a thorn in our side for so long can be told in due course."

Oh please enlighten us!

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

Didn't William Hague's Shadow Foreign Secretary (from the same Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo) run Michael Portillo's leadership campaign?

Portillo can't have been too unimpressed with the foreign policy pursued by the Hague-led Conservatives obviously...

[Yet Another Anon]

The mainstream media like him because he can be relied upon to lay into other conservatives.
They like him because he's become one of them, they are part of the Islington set who's morals and lifestyle are vague and confused just as his is - the Permissive Society Incarnate.

[Rob P]

When those clever TV types came up with "This Week", surely the idea behind Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo was to have a Labour MP and a Tory MP commenting on the week's political stories. Since Portillo is no longer an MP, and is no longer a Tory, why oh why can't they get shot of him. His continued presence on that programme is an affront to me as a licence fee payer.

[John Coles]

I couldn't agree more nor could I put it more succinctly, Yet Another Anon. Portillo is embittered, decadent and lacking any moral compass.

[Andrea]

"When those clever TV types came up with "This Week", surely the idea behind Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo was to have a Labour MP and a Tory MP commenting on the week's political stories. Since Portillo is no longer an MP, and is no longer a Tory, why oh why can't they get shot of him. His continued presence on that programme is an affront to me as a licence fee payer"

probably some Labour supporters feel the same about Diane Abbott.

[changetowin]

Never forget that Michael Portillo is now a newspaper columnist who writes things to spark debate. Just like Matthew Parris who recently wrote that he hoped the Conservatives lose the next election. I didn’t read an editorial condemnation of that!

On the broad issue of the direction that the Conservative Party needs to go in Michael Portillo lead the way. He drew the right lessons in his time out of parliament after his defeat in 1997. He saw then that the Conservatives would have to fundamentally change their culture, image and policies if they were to win the right to serve Britain again. The messenger may have failed – partly due to homophobia – but the message is alive and well. It is why we are back in the game again.

[Yet Another Anon]

Lord knows what Liberal Democrat supporters think?

It strikes me that Boris Johnson would be a more suitable representative.

I don't normally watch the programme, but on one occassion I did catch it I heard them reminiscing and apparently Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo used to go to the same Secondary School and were friends back then.

[william]

He saw then that the Conservatives would have to fundamentally change their culture, image and policies if they were to win the right to serve Britain again....

All you need to do is say the word CHANGE a lot, and hope no one notices that little has actually changed - bar the fact that loyalty in the Parliamentary Party has broken out. If Portillo was still an MP such coherence would still be impossible.

[Andrea]

"apparently Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo used to go to the same Secondary School and were friends back then."

yes, they went to the Harrow County Grammar.
In a school production she played Lady MacBeth with Portillo playing Macbeth.

[Edward]

Don't you all think Portillo is actually boxing fairly clever with this? By coming out so negatively towards the Tory Party he makes what Cameron is doing in the name of "modernisation" appear fairly moderate and therefore more acceptable to the Party. It fits in just as perfectly with the triangulation strategy as Heffer's rants in the Telegraph.

[Chris Palmer]

"Never forget that Michael Portillo is now a newspaper columnist who writes things to spark debate. Just like Matthew Parris who recently wrote that he hoped the Conservatives lose the next election. I didn’t read an editorial condemnation of that!" - Change To Win

Maybe that's because we agree with Mr Parris. Certainly I did (see my blog here.)

[Andrew Kennedy]

Sadly, Mr Portillo is living proof of Enoch Powells view that all political careers end in failure.

[Jaz]

I personally feel that Portillo knows what Cameron NEEDS to do to modernise the Tory party. By creating tension will the public get the impression of real change...and He's been saying this on "This Week" for months.

I think he is a very clever indidual whose advice is sound and should be welcomed.

[Mike Homfray]

Abbott and Portillo work so well because they are both mavericks as well as clearly getting on well together.

It always strikes me that Portillo is far happier outside party politics and that he doesn't particularly associate himself with any party any longer (although I am sure he said that he did vote Conservative last time)

As far as the EPP is concerned, surely it depends on whether alternative allies are available - but the Law and Justice party in Poland is hardly a good choice. The Czech CD's may be more sensible. On the whole, though, European right-of-centre parties are not particularly Atlanticist.

[Michael Rabbitte]

Sad to see so many people attacking Michael Portillo. Personally, I think he is probably the best leader this party never had, and I only voted for Cameron because he seemed to be the best person to pick up from where Portillo had been forced to leave off. What stopped Portillo was the narrow mindedness of the blue rinse, twin set and pearl old brigade of this party - I'm just so glad that they were not so effective against David Cameron who, though I am a great fan of Portillo, has my total support. As for the individual somewhere on this page who said that Michael Portillo needed to learn some humility, all I can say is that you really have not been paying much attention to the man himself and what he has actualy been saying and doing - I think the whole nation watched him humble himself when he took on the role of a single mum for a week. It seems to me that Portillo speaks as he finds - and, like the rest of us, even he will admit that sometimes he will get it wrong.

[Serf]

Sad to see so many people attacking Michael Portillo. Personally, I think he is probably the best leader this party never had

I thought exactly the same until I realised what a bitter and twisted man he was, following defeat.

As for humble, he wouldn't recognise humility if it jumped up and down screaming in front of him.

Tactically as well he was a failure. Following his admission of a homosexual past, combined with his tough image, he had the perfect narrative to attract all wings of the party. However he seemed to jestison all that he had previously stood for and lost all credibility.

[Yet Another Anon]

Abbott and Portillo work so well because they are both mavericks as well as clearly getting on well together.
Abbott acts as the straightman, when do they meet Frankenstein and the Invisible Man that's what I want to know?

[Wat Tyler]

On Mr P, anyone who hasn't read Tory Wars should do so.

We've been through some pretty grim times over the last decade, but I fancy they'd have been even worse with Mr P at the controls. He's much more suited to his current job in the entertainment biz. He's the new Barrymore.

[Sean Fear]

"Sad to see so many people attacking Michael Portillo. Personally, I think he is probably the best leader this party never had,"

Personally, I think we dodged a pretty wide bullet when we failed to choose him as our leader.

[Michael McGowan]

Portillo and Maude's trendy model for the Tory Party is that it should smile a lot and simply echo Labour Party. They are the High Priests of Content-Free Conservatism.

[Richard]

"He saw then that the Conservatives would have to fundamentally change their culture, image and policies if they were to win the right to serve Britain again"

But he also said they should drop their most popular policies regarding immigration. He might be right about some things but he has strange ideas regarding others. It seems the Tories are only allowed to be "in touch" with Modern Britain on issues where Modern Britain isn't generally right-wing.

[Gareth]

I read his column this weekend and thought it was fine until the last couple of paragraphs, where he seemed to depart from reality. once certainly gets the impression that there is no love lost between him and Hague but then, life in the Hague shadow cabinet in those last few months of madness before the 2001 election were pretty torrid for modernisers.

[Sean Fear]

Yes, that is a common delusion among left wingers, Richard. Putting forward right wing positions which are popular is "pandering to the tabloids". Putting forward left wing positions that are popular is sensible statesmanship.