Michael Portillo

is the unlikely new face of channel 5, where the ex-minister will present his own hidden history of Britain. Does that mean he is now obliged to take part in celebrity Big Brother? ‘People talk to me about various celebrity programmes. i quite like to be put in difficult situations,’ Portillo says. ‘But i like to be in control of the joke. i’m less excited about being placed in situations where someone else is in control of the joke.’