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Interview With MyVillage
Biography
Fifteen minutes with Michael Portillo - by Carolyn Dougherty - 05/00
Does the Conservative Party in Kensington and Chelsea reflect the range of economic experiences of its constituents and its cultural diversity? Yeah, I think it does. We have people from every level of prosperity and from many ethnic backgrounds. Kensington and Chelsea is a constituency in which there is quite a lot of poverty - in which there are quite a lot of social problems. People don't often quite realise that.
As Shadow Chancellor what are your main tasks? Are you succeeding in getting your message across? My main task is to ensure that the Conservative Party has a credible economic strategy so that people will trust us to take over the running of the economy. I'm putting in place a number of policy announcements to make sure we have that strategy. It is also my policy to point out where the government is going wrong. For example, I think people are worried about the stealth taxes, they're worried about a loss of competitiveness, they're worried about the plight of the manufacturing industry. I also see it as my task to celebrate Britain's achievements so I will never run Britain down in the process.
Are you confident in William Hague's leadership? Are you glad that his rating in the polls has increased? Yes, I am confident in his leadership. I find him an intelligent and able leader and a very good debater. As often happens in politics, I think if people could know him better, they would like him a great deal, so I am pleased to see his ratings rising?
Ambitions for the Conservative Party - can they win next time? Do you need the 'Leo' factor? The Conservative Party should represent the people of Britain. It should lift Britain's aspirations and encourage everybody to achieve their full potential. Do I think we will win the next election? Yes we can. We are building a staircase of success and doing better in each election we fight... so that we can put ourselves in the position to win the next election. The 'Leo' factor? Um, I think everyone is very happy for the Prime Minister and his wife and we just wish them very well.
Do political parties have to be cool to capture the votes of the young and affluent? They have to be in touch. They have to look like they understand the modern world. They have to be about tomorrow not yesterday. If that adds up to cool - Maybe. ..It is very important that young people should see that we have something to offer them. I think what we have to offer them is that we are open to new thinking. I think we are very much in touch with the global economy, with the electronic age, with the need to be competitive. And we now live in a Labour establishment we've got a Labour government, Labour local authorities, Labour quangos, Labour cronies. So, if young people want to rebel against the establishment they should come to us because we're the next thing.
You're the new rebels? We're the new wave!
Do you need new recruits in Kensington and Chelsea or can you rest on your laurels? We never rest on our laurels. We do actually have a lot of young people in the party in Kensington and Chelsea but that is not typical. We are unusually lucky, but we always want more. I think one of the problems here, is not so much that young people wouldn't be Conservative but that young people are extremely busy.
Do you think that everyone is busy at the moment? Yeah, I think the pace of life has got much faster for everybody. People were saying that the electronic age would lead to vast amounts of leisure and huge amounts of unemployment and actually most people seem to be getting busier and busier yet it is a rather hectic life for most people.
What kinds of problems do you help with in your surgery? They come with serious personal problems normally. The main two areas are immigration and housing. You see a lot of people coming here who are really on the edge they have very great difficulties... I think Karen Buck's caseload is similar those seem to be the main problems.
I think people might be surprised because they think of Kensington and Chelsea as very affluent but, along our main roads in particular, we have a lot of bedsits and bed and breakfast places where people are in temporary accommodation and, I am pleased about this. Particularly in Chelsea, we have retained a lot of housing association housing - affordable housing, which is fantastic actually. London is not a city where everyone has disappeared from the middle. It is not a city, which has ended up like a doughnut as others do. We actually have a good deal of affordable housing indeed in World's End we have got a lot of affordable housing. We have a much more mixed population than many people realise.
What do you think about the drain of professionals who are not earning enough to buy in the central London, who have decided to move out of London, who are at least thinking about it. Yes it bothers me it's a problem mmmm, Although I was encouraged last week to see, or this week that Kensington and Chelsea have got this marvellous report from Ofsted so luckily somehow we are still managing to retain a very high quality of teacher for example in Kensington and Chelsea but I do think it is a problem and it has to be addressed properly from two directions and one is the affordable housing direction and the other is possibly paying a supplement to professional people who need to serve in high cost areas.
Are you a career politician and is there anything wrong in being a career politician? I am a professional politician, it is what I have done most of my life and I don't think that is wrong. There is nothing wrong with being a professional pilot or a professional surgeon, so I don't know why people would object to you being a professional politician. It means you have been trained to do it and you ought to do it well but I also feel extremely lucky because I had three years out when I had to go off and do other things and I am really pleased I had that experience. I could imagine doing something else, I have proved now that I can. I wrote a lot, travelled a lot and I made television programmes and so on. I enjoyed all of that very much indeed and I am delighted to be back in politics and I have no fear about not being in politics.
You are a great influence on the Conservative Party. What has been your favourite experience being in the media or being so influential? I think what I really enjoy is communicating. If I have a political message, I enjoy thinking about how to put it across, how to express it. Equally when I was making programmes about Spain or about history the joy was also communicating - how do you tell this story. So actually I feel equally comfortable doing either one of those. Obviously I enjoy doing things that are of interest to other people, that is a nice feeling, but funnily enough I have never felt powerful in politics. Politics is so much a matter of team work, compromise, meeting people half -way, persuading, getting it through parliament, convincing the media -it doesn't exactly feel like power. I had the sensation of being at the centre of events but that's totally different, not really the sensation of power.
That's a tremendous responsibility though? It is. I have borne some very considerable responsibilities when as Secretary of State for Defence for example- especially when people's lives have been at risk. Yes, it is a tremendous responsibility.
Are you on any committees? No I'm not. One of the upsides of being Shadow Chancellor is that you don't have to do any committee work.
Will you be going to Carnival this year? I think I should go. It is obviously a very big cultural event. A lot of people are involved including some of my constituents and there are a lot of issues that concern my constituents about noise and mess. I should put in an appearance.
Do you have a message for your constituents? Let me know if I can help. This is a wonderful constituency full of interesting people and interesting things. And I am just I am just enormously enthusiastic about it. I am here to serve. I really enjoy that. |
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