English

Noun

Portillo moment ‎(plural Portillo moments)

1. (chiefly Britain, politics) An election loss for a prominent politician.
   • 2013, Paddy Duffy, Did That Actually Happen?: A Journey Through Unbelievable Moments in Irish Politics, Hachette UK (ISBN 9781444750423)

     But with FF seat losses by the dozen all over the country, the Portillo moments were stacked on several levels, like a good tin of biscuits.

   • 2015 May 7, Sebastian Payne, “Election night: the ten ‘Portillo moments’ to watch out for”, in The Spectator:

     Possibly the biggest Portillo moment north of the border, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is also in danger of losing his seat according to the marginal polls.

   • 2015 May 8, Dan Bloom, “Andrea Jenkyns ousts Ed Balls: Everything you need to know about Tory who defeated Labour giant”, in The Mirror:

     It's the 2015 General Election's Portillo moment - but who is the Tory who's scalped shadow chancellor Ed Balls by just 422 votes?

Synonyms

• decapitation
• scalp, scalping