I was reading a thread over on political betting earlier today and one poster had a query as to why Portillo's defeat in Enfield at the '97 general election was such a big moment for the left. Others explained how in the 90's he was seen as Mrs Thatcher's 'heir apparent'. One poster linked to this clip.
As you can see his 90's incarnation was very different to the Michael Portillo we see being cuckolded by Dianne Abbott on This Week every Thursday. But as I watched, I realised something. This was actually a great, rousing speech (I can also see why the left would hate it...and him) and I've come to the conclusion that if Liam Fox made a speech like this at this years tory party conference the country would lap it up. It's probably the best paean to the British armed forces since Churchill. So I'll ask the question, can we have the old portillo back? Or at the very least, the same spirit?
On a slightly tenuous link it recently came to my attention about a young lad from my village who lost a leg while serving in Afghanistan. After hearing his story my band are planning on playing a fundraising benefit gig for the charity Help for Heroes some time next month. I'll blog about the event soon, I don't expect many of my readers will be able to attend but I will put up a button on the post for those that would like to help and donate to what is an incredibly worthwhile cause and not have to suffer the aural awfulness that is my music.
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