Michael Portillo speaks to Wolverhampton crowds in A Game of Two Halves

That's the view of former "future Prime Minister" turned television presenter Michael Portillo, who is no stranger to flak and mud-slinging in the political arena.

The 63-year-old, who spoke to a Wolverhampton audience this week about his career in politics and television in his show A Game of Two Halves, has been in the US for most of the summer just gone, filming for his latest series, Great American Railroad Journeys.

The ex-Conservative MP believes that next week's result is too close to call, but felt a real sense of negativity towards Clinton during his time in the States.

He said: "I have a preference for Hillary, but I must say I spent most of the summer in the US filming for the new series, and it's difficult to explain quite how unpopular she really is over there.

"I would favour her over Trump. It's a huge decision for America, because it's not just a president they are voting for, it's a head of state."

After rising through the Conservative ranks working alongside then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mr Portillo soon found himself hitting the headlines. The loss of a safe seat in parliament in 1997 coined the popular phrase "doing a Portillo", which he eloquently describes as "eating a bucketload of s*** in public". Then in 2001 followed an attempt to win the Tory leadership, which many believe was thwarted by public slurs about his private life.

But after a 21-year career in government politics, Hertfordshire-born Mr Portillo had developed a thick skin.

He joked: "If any of you don't know who I am, I'm a 'former future Prime Minister'. We've actually started a club, and Boris Johnson is our newest member!"

Mr Portillo still takes an active interest in politics both abroad and at home, and admits both apprehension and excitement at what lies ahead for Britain after the Brexit vote.

He said: "I am quite nervous about the future, but what excites me most about it is that we will be able to take power back into our own hands.

"In my opinion the Euro currency has been a disaster, it has been immensely destructive. It has left 50 per cent of young people in Spain unemployed and completely destroyed the economy in Greece. And many have argued that our people won't have the freedom of movement. If you look at countries like Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, these countries cannot cope because all their young people are leaving to come here.

"What I will say is that I think it was irresponsible of David Cameron to call for a referendum on it when there was no pressure to do so."

Mr Portillo, dressed in a typically flamboyant fluorescent blue blazer, was bursting at the seams to share tales of his life and two careers.

On his time working under Thatcher, whom he began his political career alongside working as an adviser, he said: "I used to prepare a dossier for her each morning on all the negative things that had been in the news and present it to her at 7.30am before her press conferences, to try and make sure she wasn't caught out by anything that she was asked."

Lady Thatcher wasn't the only powerful woman whose feathers he has ruffled in his time, though. He found himself on the front pages for "infuriating the Queen" after holding a loud party in his flat while a military parade was taking place outside.

He said: "There was a parade going on in the street with marching bands and people wearing their military refinery. I had a party going on in my flat with all sorts of wonderful people, judges, barristers and the like.

"We thought because there was a marching band that no-one would hear us. But it was all over the headlines the next day 'Portillo infuriates Queen'. I was rather sheepish when I went into the cabinet meeting the next day."

In 1997, Mr Portillo was one of several high-profile Tories to end up with egg on his face after losing a supposedly safe seat.

Among his proudest achievements in politics was to save the Carlisle to Settle railway line when he was Secretary of Defence, and after leaving politics in 2005, he decided to concentrate on his media career, which has seen him present several programmes including seven series of the Great British Railway Journeys.

Among the weird and wonderful things he has done in his television career, Mr Portillo has found himself dancing with Bulgarians, playing basketball against 7ft tall Americans and making his signature banana trifle for four Merseyside youngsters as he became a "single mum" for a week. But despite all of his wacky moments, he still draws the line at doing reality television.

So if things had gone his way in 2001, and he had won the Tory leadership, could he have gone on to be successful Prime Minister?

He said: "In some way I think I would have done. I was a very disciplined minister and I believed in making decisions and making the most of time. I think if you look at David Cameron, he was so obsessed with feeding the media machine that he lost touch with the people. I would have been ashamed to have postponed the Heathrow decision (to expand the airport in 2015).

"But on the other hand, I don't think I'd have had the nerve to do the job. I think I would have felt under great stress.

"When I found out that I was out of the running for the leadership I was distinctly relieved."