Sunday, December 16, 2007
Has Michael Portillo Been Sacked by the Sunday Times?
Can anyonbe enlighten me as to what has happened to Michael Portillo's column in the Sunday Times? Martin Ivens seems to have taken over the slot previously occupied by Senor P. I rarely agreed with Portillo's analysis but it was a highly readable column. Maybe he's just taking a break, but it seems to be a long one. His last column, according to the admittedly highly unreliable Times search facility appears to been on 25 September.
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I thought Portillo looked grey and unhealthy when he appeared on THIS WEEK on Thursday.
Maybe he needs a rest?
Yes it ended some time ago Iain. Quite a lot of publicity about how it had become repetitive / boring etc.
Be interested to hear about what you think of the forthcoming Cockerell documentary and reported comments of Portillo etc
Personally i can't see why tories cooperate with cockerell - these things always appear to end up as stitch up jobs.
I've also wondered what happened to his column. The last I can find is October 28th at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/michael_portillo/article2753586.ece
There's no indication it was to be a last column, and the Sunday Times still lists him as a "weekly columnist". Bit odd.
Yep he lost it a while ago and not before time!-
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/2007/09/even-the-bbc-is.html
Someone shouldupdate Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Portillo
More likely surely that Portillo has sacked them?
Think it's a cost-saving thing as the paper's lost loads of circulation since the price hike. Can't imagine anyone in political circles is thinks Ivens (who, bizarrely believed he had a chance of editing the Times!) is worth reading. He's almost as tedious as his brown-nosing partner Anne McElvoy.
He looked ill last time I saw him and had lost a lot of weight. Having said that if I had Ms Abbott sat next to me I'd feel sick.
why don't you ask Michael and/or the Sunday Times if you want to catch up with old news?
Portillo's yet another Blair era casualty, unable to find a niche in the new Cameronian age.
Portillo was kept on as a usefully treacherous Tory by Blair's media. But now Murdoch's changing sides and running against the EU Constitution, he doesn't fit the programme too well any more.
Bit like Gordon Brown, who was kept on by Blair as a device to keep critics at bay, but has now outlived his useful political existence.
More on 'the tap', my blog, trying to read the tea leaves.
The Times today (Tuesday) announces that Portillo is to chair the judges' panel for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. I supopose reading all those second-rate novels will give him something to do. And they need a politician on board so that all the squabbles can be leaked ....
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