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Michael Portillo came into elective politics with a bang and went out with barely a wimper. But the 19 years which separated the IRA bomb which wrecked the Grand Hotel in Brighton in October 1984 - and killed Tony Berry, Tory MP for Enfield - and yesterday's decision to leave Westminster utterly changed Britain.

They changed Mr Portillo too.

Not only had the pudding basion haircut given way to something rather more sophisticated, the driving ambition had gone too.

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Michael Howard, it transpired, had this week offered him a new shadow cabinet place and he had turned it down.

"I have been thinking about this for a long time. I have lost my enthusiasm for the cut and thrust of politics.

Michael... tried to persuade me to stay, but I would not change my mind," Mr Portillo explained yesterday.

Not so long ago, everyone would have been astonished. But yesterday few were really surprised. The man who won plaudits for last month's BBC2 program