Former Conservative MP turned Great British Railway Journeys presenter Michael Portillo made a brutal confession about married life after admitting to “homosexual experiences” in the past. The 72-year-old returns to screens tonight (April 13) with a new series of his BBC rail programme, this time set in Japan.

Outside of his professional life, Michael’s love life has always been subject to speculation after he admitted to experimenting with his sexuality as a young man. He told The Times: “I will say what I want to say. I had some homosexual experiences as a young person. I am now happily married. That is behind me now.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that all the time I have been in public life, there has been nothing of this sort whatsoever.

“When the interviewer asked me if I had ever had any experiences at [Cambridge] university, I said yes."

Michael has been married to wife Carolyn Eadie for four decades, and during another interview made one brutal confession about supposed wedded bliss.

When asked what the positive aspects of a long relationship are, he told The Times: “Gosh. It makes everything so straightforward, so stable, doesn’t it? It means there is a great foundation to life.

“I thought you were going to ask me what’s the secret to it all, and I might have said, partly flippantly, that the fact that I’m away so much has made the marriage more tolerable for my wife.”

Michael previously said of the rumours floating that he was gay: “I was keen to put to rest the rumours that had been circulating about me, and I cannot really believe that what happened a generation ago could be big news.

“I do not think it was a particularly big burden, and I do not have any regrets. The truth is a good thing."