Portillo’s father accused of inventing civil war speech
MICHAEL Portillo’s father has been accused of making up a famous account of a confrontation between an academic and a general during the Spanish civil war.
Luis Portillo, a professor of civil law and a poet, recorded a rousing speech thought, until now, to have been delivered by Miguel de Unamuno three months into the fighting. His confrontation in October 1936 with General José Millán Astray is recorded as one of the most significant of the period.
However, a Spanish researcher has claimed it was made up and that Mr Portillo, who died in 1993, was not there to witness the exchange, which may have been quite different.
Mr Unamuno, according to Luis Portillo’s account, reportedly clashed with the soldier. His speech began: “This is a temple of intelligence and I am its high priest. You are profaning its sacred precincts. You will win because you have an abundance of brute force, but you will not convince.”
But according to The Guardian, Severiano Delgado, a historian and librarian at the University of Salamanca, has claimed Mr Portillo made up the words and put them into the mouth of his friend Mr Unamumo.
Mr Portillo senior served the Republican Government until its defeat in 1939 when he fled to the UK, married and had five sons including Michael. His article about the confrontation was published in the magazine Horizon in 1941.
Asked about the possible deception Michael Portillo said: “I’ve always assumed that my father drew on what people had told him and then, as it were, wrote it up as best he could.”
He added that he was travelling to Seville this weekend to collect a painting he has commissioned about the speech, in which his father is also depicted.
Mr Delgado said: “Unamuno didn’t deliver that speech. It was invented and written by Luis Portillo.”