the cupboard does look bare but you donβt know who may emerge. In 1997 you would never have guessed that Michael Howard would become the person to bring a bit of sanity to the Tory party eventually.
Portillo was hugely disliked at the time. But to his great credit, he was humble enough to realise that heβd made mistakes and managed to reinvent himself as a television trainspotter. I have no doubts that Portillo the TV personality is a lot nicer than Portillo the politician.
A bit of both for me. I usually look at who the top two are going to be and choose that way. But I would have probably voted for the party I did. Unfortunately Iβve never lived in a labour/liberal constituency when I could choose based upon their policies.