Seeking redemption

The Lady’s Not For Spurning (BBC4, Monday) was ostensibly about Margaret Thatcher and the baleful influence she had on the Conservative party after 1990. It was actually about Michael Portillo’s long quest for redemption. This has been going on since May 1997, when he lost his seat. As he pointed out in this documentary, which he scripted and presented, ‘Were you up for Portillo?’ became a national catchphrase. It was, as he said with grim relish, later voted by viewers the third favourite TV moment of the century. What most people said was, ‘Did you see the look on Portillo’s face?’ Seeing it again, I thought the look was rather dignified. When he originally won the seat, at a by-election 13 years earlier, the look on his face really was rather unpleasant — smug, self-satisfied, a little sinister.

Most politicians are largely unnoticed and forgotten when they go. A handful become national treasures, such as Denis Healey.