After Dinner Speakers: The Rt Hon Michael Portillo, Meat Loaf, Lord Desai

Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo, born on 26th May 1953, Member of Parliament for the safest Tory seat Kensington and Chelsea, is the Doyen of backbench conservatives. Sensationally defeated by Stephen Twigg in 1997 and more so in the leadership election of July 2001, Michael Portillo is loved and hated in equal measure. Always charming he is renowned as an articulate and able politician and although he harbours no leadership ambition his admirers and supporters insist he is the best man for the job. A Senior member of the party he is well versed in the post mortems that followed election defeats in 1997 and 2001 and has much to say on the inner workings of the Major, Haig and Duncan-Smith eras