The Conservatives have already promised to match the government's big boost in spending on the NHS, but Mr Portillo argued that it was just as important to encourage more people to take out private health insurance and "tear downthe Berlin Wall" between the public and private sectors.
Calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire" and demanding that Mikhail Gorbachev "tear down" thewall separating East and West Germany, Reagan advanced a vision of the Cold War that found considerable support.