BBC star Michael Portillo put gay rumour to bed after ‘homosexual experiences’
Michael Portillo (BBC / Naked / Fremantle)
Great British Railway Journeys star Michael Portillo once spoke of the “homosexual experiences” he’d had in his youth, after speculation about his sexuality in politics in the late 1990s.
Portillo, 72, is best known now for his BBC shows, which see him explore Britain and Europe by train. But he was previously an MP and Conservative Party member in the 1990s.
In 1999, when attitudes towards gay people weren’t great (three were killed and 70 injured at the bombing of London’s Admiral Duncan, and the age of consent for gay men was still not equal for straight people), Portillo was subjected to rumours about his sexuality.
The then-politician, who married his wife Carolyn Claire Eadie in 1982 and voted against making the age of consent for gay couples the same as for straight couples in 1994 before U-turning in 2000, opened up to The Times about his private life.
He said: “I will say what I want to say. I had some homosexual experiences as a young person.”
Portillo continued: “I am now happily married. That is behind me now.
“I want to make it perfectly clear that all the time I have been in public life, there has been nothing of this sort whatsoever.
“When the interviewer asked me if I had ever had any experiences at university, I said yes.”
He had studied history at Cambridge University before he entered public life.
Lifting the lid on why he was speaking about it, he said: “I was keen to put to rest the rumours that had been circulating about me, and I cannot really believe that what happened a generation ago could be big news.
“I do not think it was a particularly big burden, and I do not have any regrets. The truth is a good thing.”
Michael Portillo and the age of consent
In 1994, Michael Portillo voted against making the age of consent for gay men equal to straight couples.
The age of consent in England and Wales was 21, as per the Sexual Offences Act 1967. It was 16 for straight couples.
Edwina Currie led the charge of making it equal, however her proposal was defeated. Instead, it was lowered to 18.
Portillo later U-turned in 2000, voting to make the age of consent 16 – equal for both gay and straight couples.
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