Were you still up when Michael Portillo lost his seat? It’s difficult to believe now that the genial presenter of TV railway journey programmes was such a hated and divisive figure on the Tory right, or that his demise came to symbolise a defining moment of change in UK politics.

Shortly after the former Defence Secretary stood, maintaining an excruciating rictus grin, as the returning officer announced his defeat in his Enfield Southgate constituency in the early hours of May 2, 1997, New Labour swept to victory and the rest is history.

Subsequent scenes of a messianic Tony Blair gladhanding with jubilant, flag-waving supporters outside the Royal Festival Hall at daybreak on the morning after the election, epitomised the mood of excitement and optimism that swept the nation.

It was a beautiful sunny, spring day and there was a powerful sense of collective purpose and regeneration, after 18 years of Conservative hegemony; perhaps the closest we could ever come in this country to a spirit of revolution.

I was a young reporter on The Herald at the time and I still have the news-stand banner from the day, declaring “Scotland: A Tory-free zone”.

Of course, like all political stories and careers, it would end in disappointment and disillusionment. A decade later, Blair stood down having never managed to shake the legacy of a disastrous and ill-conceived war in Iraq.

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Today, we stand on the brink of an even more emphatic........

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