The big 7-0 holds no fear for Michael Portillo: ‘It makes you reflect, but I can still walk the Pyrenees’-Sue Crawford-Entertainment – Metro

Michael Portillo walks the Pyrenees in his latest TV venture (Picture: Getty Images)

Michael Portillo, 69, on the humiliation of losing his seat as an MP, missing out to IDS in the Tory leadership battle and his latest TV series.

You’re famous for your bright outfits – what can we expect in your new walking series?

There is a yellow coat, which I thought about very carefully. My essential plan is opposites, so in my world purple goes with red or yellow and orange goes with green. It was a persona I created for TV, which has slightly crossed over into my real life!

Given that there are 30 colourful jackets sitting there, I might as well wear them in real life as well.

Does it get a bit lonely when you’re out walking on your own?

I’m a deeply gregarious person, which is precisely why I enjoy the solitude of walking – it’s so unusual as it is not what I choose as my way of life. I’m always surrounded by people and all the work that I do is collaborative – I make television programmes, which is a gregarious activity.

How many miles a day did you do on this show?

I certainly don’t want to exaggerate my activity! We were making a television show, so I couldn’t walk continuously by any means. I wouldn’t even claim to have done more than 10,000 steps a day, which is probably what I do when I’m at home in London anyway. They would have been deeper and slipperier steps than normal but it wasn’t desperately demanding.

Michael is well-known for his colourful outfits (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Did you meet any interesting characters along the way?

I met a retired smuggler, who traded cigarettes and booze between Spain and France. He was an engaging rogue with a twinkle in his eye and lots of tall stories. He told me they would walk the animals backwards to make the border police believe they’d gone in the other direction and they’d get shepherds to move their flocks to mark their tracks.

You revisit a pilgrimage route you took after unexpectedly losing your parliamentary seat in 1997. That must have been a difficult period…

At the time it seemed reasonable to assume the best was behind me. I’d been in politics for decades and I’d flown fairly close to the sun – I’d been in the cabinet for five years and that came to an end overnight when my party lost power and I lost my seat.

Michael on the night of his defeat in 1997 (Picture: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith beat Michael to the post (Picture: Getty Images)

It happened in a very public and rather humiliating way. I felt very raw and very exposed. I remember being quite embarrassed on public transport or standing in a sandwich queue, with everyone thinking ‘Oh, he was a minister last week and he’s the fellow who lost his seat’.

I had no idea how I was going to make my living, because what I couldn’t predict was that my media career was going to take off in the way that it has.

In 2001 you ran for leader of the Conservatives, losing to Iain Duncan Smith…

Thank goodness I didn’t get it! It wasn’t like what is happening at the moment. We were in opposition, so the only thing that was on offer was to lead a party that was tearing itself apart.

Do you prefer being on TV or an MP?

I’ve enjoyed them both enormously and I’d be hard pressed to say which I’ve enjoyed more. I have no regrets that my political career didn’t go further.

Do the Pyrenees have any personal significance for you?

My mother was Scottish and my father was Spanish and during the series I walk the path my father almost certainly walked into exile after the Spanish Civil War.

General Francisco Franco ruled Spain as a military dictator from 1939 to 1975 (Picture: Alamy)

My father would have been defeated, desperate and absolutely without hope. His side had lost and Spain was going into fascism. He was leaving behind his career, his family and his language, and he had only the clothes in which he was standing. Thinking about that was pretty emotional.

Do you have a home in Spain?

Yes, it’s within 20 minutes of Seville airport. I have a whole other life there, because we’re very much integrated into the little town in which we live. We have lots of friends and a very boisterous time whenever we visit.

More: Sixty Seconds

Are you concerned about turning 70 next year?

It makes you reflect. You feel you’re getting older in your mind and in your bones. But so far it’s been fine. I’m physically still perfectly capable of walking the Pyrenees and more.

What’s coming up next?

I’m currently shooting a series of great coastal railway journeys around Britain. The railway series has been running for about 14 years and we’ve filmed on five continents.

Glyndebourne mixes the great outdoors with opera (Picture: Glyndebourne)

What are your hobbies?

I travel the world in search of opera. I’m talking to you dressed in black tie because I’m going to Glyndebourne today and we already have plans to go to New York in the spring.

I listen to opera at home but less than I used to. There was a wonderful time of vinyl when you rushed out and bought a recording and put it on the turntable. Now that you can stream anything, it doesn’t quite have the mystique that it used to.

The Pyrenees With Michael Portillo, starts tonight at 9pm on C5

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