Former Conservative MP and TV presenter Michael Portillo tells funny and poignant stories from his life on stage in Milton Keynes.
Michael Portillo comes to Milton Keynes Theatre on Monday 16 November, as part of The Michael Portillo Show tour, which runs from Wednesday 28 October 2026 to Tuesday 16 March 2027. It's a one-man show, and the evening is built around the stories he's gathered from a career that's shifted quite a bit over the years.
Most of us know him as the television presenter, but the set goes back further than that. He talks about his time as a former Secretary of State, serving under Margaret Thatcher, and running for the leadership of the Conservative Party. He doesn't skip the rougher parts either: he speaks about losing his seat, and the transition from the front benches of politics to becoming one of the country's best-known broadcasters. Along the way, he recalls sparring with Diane Abbott and Andrew Neil, and the railway journeys that have become his trademark.
There's a personal thread running through it, too. He draws on his father's experiences of the Spanish Civil War, and his own break into television. It's a mix of the political and the personal, with the railway trips fitting in somewhere in between. He describes the stories as funny, insightful and poignant, and they cover a fair stretch of ground: from the corridors of power to the tracks of the world's greatest railways.
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It's recommended for ages 14 and over. The show starts at 7:30pm and runs for an hour and fifty minutes, which includes a twenty-minute interval. Tickets are between £34.99 and £67.99.
