"Initially he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Moore and then an assistant whip. In 1987 he was made under secretary for Social Security, in 1988 he was given his first ministerial post as Minister of State for Transport. He then held the local government portfolio (1990), arguing in favour of the ultimately highly unpopular Community Charge system (popularly known as Poll Tax). He demonstrated a consistently right-of-centre line (exemplified by his insistence, in a well-publicised speech, of placing 'clear blue water' between the policies of the Conservatives and other parties) and was favoured by Norman Tebbit and Margaret Thatcher. His rise continued under John Major; he was ...

"Initially he was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Moore and then an assistant whip. In 1987 he was made under secretary for Social Security, in 1988 he was given his first ministerial post as Minister of State for Transport. He then held the local government portfolio (1990), arguing in favour of the ultimately highly unpopular Community Charge system (popularly known as Poll Tax). He demonstrated a consistently right-of-centre line (exemplified by his insistence, in a well-publicised speech, of placing 'clear blue water' between the policies of the Conservatives and other parties) and was favoured by Norman Tebbit and Margaret Thatcher. His rise continued under John Major; he was made a Cabinet Minister as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1992), and admitted to the Privy Council the same year. Portillo subsequently held the portfolios of Employment (1994) and then Defence (1995-1997). His high profile led to constant attention from the media, including the magazine Private Eye, which mocked him as Portaloo.

The Defence Secretary job was seen by some as a reward for his cautious loyalty to Major during the leadership challenge of John Redwood, following Major's 'back me or sack me' resignation as party leader in 1995.

Portillo was urged by many to stand himself against Major, and some embarrassment was incurred when it transpired that a potential campaign HQ with banks of telephone lines had been set up. Portillo was to admit later that this was an 'error' - 'I did not want to oppose [Major], but neither did I want to close the possibility of entering a second ballot if it came to that.'[3] Portillo's apparent equivocation at this time was later seized on by his opponents within the party as a mark of his indecisiveness.

As[b] Defence Secretary[/d] Portillo opposed the admission of homosexuals to the Armed Forces. He also invited criticism by invoking the motto of the SAS, "Who Dares, Wins", at a speech at the Conservative Party annual conferenc

..Perhaps the most visual and visceral proof of what anti-death-penalty protesters call "State-sanctioned torture" emerges on a stunt set in North London where Portillo meets high-voltage technician Nick Field and Peter Vanezis, Professor of Forensic Medical Sciences at London University.

They prepare a pig for electrocution, clamping electrodes across both rear trotters and strapping a basin filled with brine-soaked sponges (salt solution has greater conductivity than water) on to its head.

The pig is already dead, but it is chilling to think live human beings undergo this method of killing. Portillo watches as a 2,450-volt shock – ten times the power of an ordinary household socket – is ...

..Perhaps the most visual and visceral proof of what anti-death-penalty protesters call "State-sanctioned torture" emerges on a stunt set in North London where Portillo meets high-voltage technician Nick Field and Peter Vanezis, Professor of Forensic Medical Sciences at London University.

They prepare a pig for electrocution, clamping electrodes across both rear trotters and strapping a basin filled with brine-soaked sponges (salt solution has greater conductivity than water) on to its head.

The pig is already dead, but it is chilling to think live human beings undergo this method of killing. Portillo watches as a 2,450-volt shock – ten times the power of an ordinary household socket – is administered.

It can take three such shocks to kill a man and the triple bolts of electricity ignite the pig's head, covering its corpse in a pall of smoke and flame, and all but amputate its legs, which are burned to the bone. He is sickened by what he sees.

"People can catch fire and lose their bodily fluids in the electric chair. It is an extremely disgusting procedure, not to mention an inexact way of killing," he says today. "One of my criteria for humane execution is that it must not be gory, so for that reason I would rule out electrocution."

Another of Portillo's criteria – he has four in total – is that the condemned man should not be compelled to co-operate in his own death, as with the gas chamber.

In theory, the faster a victim inhales toxic cyanide, the less agonising the death. In practice, that most basic human instinct – self-preservation – kicks in and drives people to make desperate attempts to escape.

@ColoradoRight - gruesome. But I think two points need to be made.

First - many believe that all executions are gruesome. Would it be any more "pleasant" to see someone gassed, shot, beheaded, hanged, or electrocuted? It is precisely because of either squeamishness or humanity that Americans have turned to lethal injection. It's appararently easier to watch a paralyzed man on a stretcher silently die without spasming. Now we hear that the 3-drug cocktail most likely causes the condemned excruitiating pain.
I'm opposed to capital punishment, but it seems to me the quickest, though not cleanest, methods of execution are the guillotine and a bullet to the back of the head. Wanna watc...

@ColoradoRight - gruesome. But I think two points need to be made.

First - many believe that all executions are gruesome. Would it be any more "pleasant" to see someone gassed, shot, beheaded, hanged, or electrocuted? It is precisely because of either squeamishness or humanity that Americans have turned to lethal injection. It's appararently easier to watch a paralyzed man on a stretcher silently die without spasming. Now we hear that the 3-drug cocktail most likely causes the condemned excruitiating pain.
I'm opposed to capital punishment, but it seems to me the quickest, though not cleanest, methods of execution are the guillotine and a bullet to the back of the head. Wanna watch that?

Second, the website you linked us to is not aptly named. If you recall your Bible, such punishments are also enumerated in the Old Testament. In countries where "witches" are still burned, or where people are stoned to death for illicit sex, what unites these nations is not Islam, but grinding poverty, powerless people, and massively oppressive governments. A free society doesn't need to be kept its in check with the spectacle of public execution.