And a jolly good recomendation it is too. As a business manager I see a remarkable similarity in entering a new company with a view to "make a difference - quickly" with that encountered by a minister with a new portfolio. Do I sense a potential business consultant sprouting from from the dusty haze of politics, Mr Crawford?

"Do I sense a potential business consultant sprouting from from the dusty haze of politics, Mr Crawford?" Perhaps. Though the article ends on another ambiguity (whatever Portillo's political present). "Was Michael Portillo therefore a fine Defence Secretary? It's not for me to say, but I would be delighted to work with him again." Or any other New Conservative (& Unionist) minister who might ask?