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The term Portillo moment refers to the dramatic declaration of the result for the Enfield Southgate constituency in the 1997 UK general election, at around 3:10am on 2 May 1997. The Labour candidate Stephen Twigg, then relatively unknown, defeated the sitting MP, Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo. The result was perceived as a pivotal indication that the Conservatives would be voted out of office after 18 years, and that New Labour would win the election by a substantial majority. The late-night declaration of the result became the subject of the question "Were you still up for Portillo?", asking whether a person had remained awake until after 3am to see or hear the key general election results. "Portillo moment" has become a metaphor for an indication of a sudden and significant change in political fortunes. ==Background== Michael Portillo was first elected to Parliament to represent Enfield Southgate at a by-election in 1984. The constituency includes largely suburban areas on the west of the London Borough of Enfield. Portillo retained the seat at the 1987 general election, and won with a comfortable majority of 15,563 in the 1992 general election. By 1997, Portillo was Secretary of State for Defence in the Conservative government. He had developed a reputation as one a leading lights of the right wing of the Conservative Party, and he was considered a possible candidate to follow John Major as party leader after the 1997 general election. The Labour Party candidate, Stephen Twigg – 30 years old, openly gay, and relatively unknown – was unlikely to be able to overturn Portillo's substantial majority. The Conservatives held a small majority in the House of Commons after the 1992 general election, and remained in power for almost the maximum possible 5 years as their majority was gradually reduced at successive by-elections. Coming into the 1997 general election, Labour had held a substantial lead in the national polls for a considerable time, but Portillo's seat was still considered "safe". However, a poll in ''The Observer'' newspaper on the weekend before the election which showed that Portillo held a lead of only three percentage points. After the polls had closed but before the result was formally announced, Portillo was interviewed live by Jeremy Paxman on BBC television. By that stage, Portillo was aware of the result. Portillo struggled to answer Paxman's first question, "So Michael, are you going to miss the limo?" or the follow-up, "Are we seeing the end of the Conservative Party as a credible force in British politics?". Twigg and the other candidates also knew the results before the formal announcement. Twigg was shocked, but determined to keep a neutral expression during the announcement to maintain viewers' excitement to the last moment. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portillo moment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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