The Portillo moment was the declaration of the result for the Enfield Southgate constituency in the 1997 United Kingdom general election, at 3:01am on 2 May 1997. The Labour Party candidate, Stephen Twigg, defeated the sitting MP, Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo. The result was perceived as a pivotal indication that the Conservatives would be voted out of office after 18 years and that Labour would win the election by a substantial majority.
The late-night declaration of the result became the subject of the question "Were you still up for Portillo?", asking whether a person had remained awake until after 3am to see or hear the key general-election results. "Portillo moment" has become a metaphor for an indication of a sudden and significant change in political fortunes, particularly the unseating of a leading MP (especially a cabinet minister) at a general election.
Michael Portillo was first elected to the House of Commons to represent Enfield Southgate at a by-election in 1984. [1] The constituency included largely suburban areas in the west of the London Borough of Enfield. Portillo retained the seat at the 1987 general election and won with a comfortable majority of 15,563 in the 1992 general election.
By 1997 Portillo was Secretary of State for Defence in the Conservative government. He had developed a reputation as one of the leading lights of the right wing of the Conservative Party and was considered a possible candidate to follow John Major as party leader following the 1997 general election. The Labour Party candidate, Stephen Twigg – 30 years old, openly gay and relatively unknown – was considered unlikely to be able to overturn Portillo's substantial majority. They had previously met when Portillo addressed Twigg's school during the latter's schooldays. [2]
The Conservatives held a small majority in the House of Commons following the 1992 general election and remained in power for almost the maximum possible five years as their majority was gradually reduced at successive by-elections. Coming into the 1997 general election, Labour had held a substantial lead in the national polls for a considerable time, but Portillo's seat was still considered safe. However, a poll in The Observer newspaper the Sunday before the election showed that Portillo held a lead of only three percentage points. [3]
After the polls had closed but before the result was formally announced, Portillo was interviewed live by Jeremy Paxman on BBC Television. [3] By that stage, exit poll results had been revealed and predicted a Labour landslide nationally, and Portillo was privately aware of his possible defeat, although this was unknown to the public, who right up to the result were still expecting Portillo to be the next Tory leader. Portillo dismissed the national exit poll but struggled to answer Paxman's question, "Are we seeing the end of the Conservative Party as a credible force in British politics?" [4]
At the local election headquarters, Portillo said, "Everyone around me, including the Labour workers, behaved towards me as though I'd been bereaved. They looked apologetic. I know I was a national figure of hate for Labour but you can only hate at a distance. The people in that room were Labour councillors that I'd worked with and liked. All evening, they treated me with courtesy and consideration." [3]
Twigg and the other candidates also knew the results shortly before the formal announcement. Twigg was shocked but determined to keep a neutral expression during the announcement to maintain viewers' excitement to the last moment. [3]
The result was read out, showing that Twigg had won 20,570 votes against Portillo's 19,137 and thus had been elected MP. Portillo remarked in later interviews that he had regarded his defeat as a blessing, since it eliminated him from the expected Tory leadership contest to replace John Major, and that he had no desire to lead a rump party, which would probably be in opposition for at least two more parliamentary cycles.[ citation needed ]
The result in Enfield Southgate represented a 17.4% swing to Labour. Nationally Labour won a landslide victory with a parliamentary majority of 179 seats. Other prominent Conservatives to lose their seats included Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, Trade Secretary Ian Lang, Chief Secretary to the Treasury William Waldegrave, Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth and former ministers Edwina Currie, Norman Lamont, David Mellor and Neil Hamilton.
Twigg retained his seat in the 2001 election but lost it to the Conservative David Burrowes in the 2005 election. He returned to the House of Commons in the 2010 election as MP for the safe Labour seat of Liverpool West Derby, which he held until standing down at the 2019 election, having served a total of more than 17 years in Parliament, almost exactly the same as Portillo's combined service.
After losing Enfield Southgate in 1997 Portillo returned to the House of Commons in 1999, winning the by-election for Kensington and Chelsea following the death of Alan Clark. He served in the Shadow Cabinet of William Hague as Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor and stood as a candidate to become leader of the Conservative Party following the 2001 general election. He left the House of Commons at the 2005 general election.
In his acceptance speech, Twigg announced "there is no such thing as a no-go area for the Labour Party". Portillo was widely praised for his magnanimous response in his concession speech. Earlier that night, David Mellor had lost his seat at Putney, and was seen in a televised argument with the Referendum Party leader, Sir James Goldsmith. [5] Portillo was determined to lose with as much dignity as he could muster. [3]
The public rejection of Portillo came to symbolise the loss of the election, and continues to be referred to as the "Portillo moment". Following the 1997 election, people asked each other "Were you up for Portillo?", a question echoed in the title of a book published by Brian Cathcart in October 1997, which recounts the story of the election night from the point when polls closed at 10pm on 1 May 1997, entitled "Were You Still Up for Portillo?" [6] Portillo has joked that the moment was voted by Channel 4 viewers, and by Observer readers, as "their third favourite moment of the 20th century", one place ahead of the execution of President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu. [7] A Channel 4 list, compiled in 1999, put the Portillo moment third, behind the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the release of Nelson Mandela, and one place ahead of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.[ citation needed ]
The term has become a metaphor for an indication of a sudden and significant change in political fortunes – particularly when a prominent political figure loses an election unexpectedly. In 2006, it was feared that changes to the voting legislation, requiring verification of postal votes, could end the chance of a "Portillo moment" by delaying the declaration of results on election night, but this did not eventuate. [8]
The 2015 election saw the defeat of a number of sitting cabinet ministers, due to a collapse in the support of the Liberal Democrats. The party lost 49 of their 57 seats, amid anger over their coalition with the Conservatives and reneging on a pledge to abolish tuition fees. [9] [10] Their landslide defeat has been compared to the elections of 1945 and 1997. The following were described as Portillo moments: [11]
The 2024 general election was the first time since 1997 that Labour ousted a Conservative government, and was a landslide victory of a similar margin. Twelve cabinet ministers lost their seats, and a number of Conservative figures stood down before the election to avoid their own Portillo moments. It was the highest number of sitting ministers ever to be defeated in a single election. [19] [20] [21] Defeats from that election that were also described as Portillo moments include the following:
The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Tony Blair was re-elected to serve a second term in government with another landslide victory with a 165-seat majority, returning 412 members of Parliament versus 418 from the previous election, a net loss of six seats, although with a significantly lower turnout than before—59.4%, compared to 71.6% at the previous election.
The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 418 seats.
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005.
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Co-op politician who has served as the 8th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association since August 2020. He served as Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, and for Liverpool West Derby from 2010 to 2019.
In British politics, a Lib–Lab pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party.
South West Norfolk is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Terry Jermy of the Labour Party. It was previously represented by Liz Truss of the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2024.
Enfield Southgate was a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was created in 1950 as Southgate.
Kensington and Chelsea was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom 1997–2010. It was one of the safest Conservative seats in the United Kingdom, and since its creation in 1997 became a prestigious seat, with MP Alan Clark, the former Defence Secretary Michael Portillo and the former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind all holding the seat for the Conservatives. The seat was abolished for the 2010 election, when the 1974–1997 Kensington constituency was recreated and Chelsea formed a new constituency together with the southern part of the former Hammersmith and Fulham constituency, called the Chelsea and Fulham constituency.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.
David John Barrington Burrowes is a British politician. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 2005 to 2017, is the co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. He has been the Chairman of the Equity Release Council since 2017
The Conservative Party is the oldest political party in the United Kingdom and arguably the world. The current party was first organised in the 1830s and the name "Conservative" was officially adopted, but the party is still often referred to as the Tory party. The Tories had been a coalition that more often than not formed the government from 1760 until the Reform Act 1832. Modernising reformers said the traditionalistic party of "Throne, Altar and Cottage" was obsolete, but in the face of an expanding electorate 1830s–1860s it held its strength among royalists, devout Anglicans and landlords and their tenants.
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The 1984 Enfield Southgate by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 December 1984 for the House of Commons constituency of Enfield Southgate.
This is the results breakdown of the 2005 general election.
The constituency of Enfield Southgate returned a memorable result in the 1997 United Kingdom general election, when the seat's incumbent Member of Parliament, the Conservatives' Michael Portillo, lost to Labour's Stephen Twigg.
John Major formed the second Major ministry following the 1992 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to begin a new administration. His government fell into minority status on 13 December 1996.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in England took place on 5 May 2005 for 529 English seats in the British House of Commons. The governing Labour Party under Tony Blair won an overall majority of seats for the third successive election.
Unseating is a political term which refers to a legislator who loses their seat in an election. A legislator who is unseated loses the right to sit in a legislative chamber. A landslide victory results in many legislators being unseated.
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