Portillo 'regrets' past Tory rule

Portillo plans to quit parliament

Ex-Tory defence minister Michael Portillo has spoken of his regret at the part he played in the final years of the last Conservative government.

Mr Portillo, who is stepping down as an MP at the next election, said he had always considered Michael Howard as having a "social liberal" side.

He told ITN he had been surprised at how tough the now Tory leader had been as home secretary in the 1990s.

Mr Portillo also refused to rule out applying for the BBC chairman post.

Surprised

The Kensington and Chelsea MP made the comments about the final years of Tory rule and current Tory leader Mr Howard in an interview for ITN.

I thought the bit that was unbelievable was his performance as home secretary Michael Portillo on Michael Howard

"I very much regret the part I played in that in the 1990s, and it may be that Michael Howard has been through the same thing," said Mr Portillo.

"I thought the bit that was unbelievable was his performance as home secretary.

"I remember at the time being surprised that he was a tough and fairly illiberal home secretary, because I had always thought of him coming from an immigrant background, sharing the same characteristics as me, as probably being on the social liberal side of things."

New job?

In a speech on Monday, Mr Howard outlined his new, distinctly liberal agenda, expressing his support for the government's civil partnerships bill, saying the state should not stop people who wanted to "live their lives in different ways".

Mr Portillo refused to comment on reports that he was in the running for the post of BBC chairman, following the resignation of Gavyn Davies in the wake of the Hutton report.

He said he considered it an honour to have his name mentioned in connection with the position, but added that he had not committed himself.

Commenting on the outcome of the Hutton report, Mr Portillo said the corporation had been damaged and a "certain smugness" had crept into its coverage.

He also raised questions about what he saw as a "lack of variety" in the views of BBC journalists.