Hague's authority was challenged by the appointment of Michael Portillo as Shadow Chancellor in 2000. Portillo had been widely tipped to be the next Conservative Party Leader before dramatically losing his seat at the 1997 general election; he was elected as MP for Kensington and Chelsea at a by-election two years later. Soon after Portillo's return to Parliament, Conservative policy on two of Labour's flagship policies was reversed: the minimum wage and independence of the Bank of England. From then and until the 2001 general election Hague's supporters waged an increasingly bitter battle with Portillo's faction; such internecine war significantly contributed to the Conservatives' two subsequent election defeats.