Page "Michael Portillo" Paragraph 3

Portillo graduated in 1975 with a first-class degree in history, and after a brief stint with Ocean Transport and Trading Co., a freight firm, he joined the Conservative Research Department in 1976.

Following the Conservative victory in 1979 he became a government adviser.

He left to work for Kerr-McGee Oil from 1981 – 1983 and fought his first, unsuccessful, election in the 1983 general election, in the Labour-held seat of Birmingham Perry Barr, losing against Jeff Rooker.