MICHAEL PORTILLO TO VISIT CORK

19 October 2011

The former Secretary of State for Employment and former Shadow British Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, Michael Portillo will be the guest speaker at a dinner to be held at the Imperial Hotel on Friday November 4th, 2011. Michael Portillo was invited to Cork by Michael Mulcahy, the Publisher of Business Cork magazine and the organiser of the event where 200 of Cork’s captains of industry will hear the former Cabinet Minister address the Cork business community.  The Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Terry Shannon will formally welcome the former conservative minister to Cork at the event.

The theme of the evening will be one of positivity – with Mr Portillo’s views on how the Cork brand should be positioned on the international map and he will give his views on how Britain sees Ireland, through bailouts, government changes and of course the recent Royal visit.

Organiser, Michael Mulcahy said, “This is the first ‘An Evening With’ event and we plan for this to be an annual event. Its purpose is to showcase Cork as an international city and county of business, tourism and culture where we as the business community are prepared to push Cork to its limits in the interests of creating jobs, attracting foreign direct investment and promoting all that we have to offer.”

Born in 1953, Michael Portillo is a journalist, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister.  He was responsible for briefing Margaret Thatcher before her press conferences in the 1979 general election and for the next two years he was special adviser to the Secretary of State for Energy. He joined the Government in 1986, and remained a member until 1997. He was a whip, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Social Security, Minister of State for Transport, Minister of State for Local Government and Inner Cities; and as a Cabinet Minister was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Employment, and Secretary of State for Defence. He was a minister for eleven years and had three positions in the Cabinet, including Secretary of State for Defence. He lost his seat at the 1997 election, and began to develop a career in the media. He returned to the Commons between 2000 and 2005, was shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and contested the leadership of the party in 2001, unsuccessfully. In 2005 Michael left the House of Commons.

Since leaving politics, he has devoted himself to writing and broadcasting. He writes for the Sunday Times and is a regular on both BBC 1’s “This Week” programme and Radio 4’s “Moral Maze”.

Places and tables are available at the event on Friday October 4th and are priced at €85 each or a table of 10 for €750.  Tickets can be purchased from Liz Griffin at 021 5003069 or liz.griffin@no1.ie