Penny Mordaunt

Trade minister likens Boris Johnson to Paul McCartney playing new songs when people want the hits.

Asked which of the pair they would support, 67% picked Mordaunt, and just 28% went for the former chancellor. Seen by some as the “woke candidate” for her antipathy to the urge by some colleagues for the party to focus on “wedge issues” such as gender identity, Mordaunt stressed that she believed there was a “biological difference” between those who were born male and female. Mordaunt touted her Brexiter credentials, saying her plans for a “modern economy” focused on growth and competition, rather than tax and spending, would “yield a Brexit dividend”.

Former navy reservist emerging as dark horse after topping poll of Tory members.

There is little to judge Ms Mordaunt on regarding her stance on the Gulf ― although her cultural views are certainly at odds with prevailing sentiments. Ms Mordaunt is not impregnable, however, and one area of potential weakness is the culture wars. It is a massive opportunity to anyone who believes in democracy and the power of trade as a force for good in the world." While Rishi Sunak is also a staunch Brexiteer, he is a far more divisive figure among the Conservative right, seen by Johnson acolytes as the Brutus behind the prime minister's downfall. Unlike leadership rival and erstwhile Liberal Democrat supporter Liz Truss, she is a lifelong Tory and was head of youth for the Conservative Party at Reading university from where she graduated with a philosophy degree in 1995. Arguably Ms Mordaunt is in pole position on that front. "Your mother dies, you get on with it. Before becoming international trade minister she held a variety of ministerial positions and two Cabinet roles. Or an act of self-harm or one that requires us to be punished. Penny Mordaunt is used taking a leap of faith. The result was an early and rather painful exit, with the then junior minister left less red-faced as red all over. While at the same university as a mature student, Ms Mordaunt met Paul Murray, who she married in 1999 but divorced just a year later.

All the eight UK PM candidates, who received the support of 20 MPs, will now compete in the first round of voting scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

"...as Prime Minister, I will continue to deliver on the opportunities of the Brexit," she said in a video post. In a video announcing his candidature, he said, "We need leadership that returns government to service of our economy, our people and our country. 8. Nadhim Zahawi: "NZ4PM" is his hashtag for his social media campaign. He also aims to "replicate Ireland’s ‘Celtic tiger’ with bold business tax cuts that unleash the growth that’s been missing from our economy for too long". "I'm putting myself forward in this leadership election because I want to tell the truth. He launched a campaign "#Ready4Rishi" on social media. "#PM4PM" is the social media hashtag her supporters have been using to show solidarity with her. The elections were announced after Boris Johnson announced his resignation as the prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party earlier this month. She also wrote about free speech and free markets. The winner will become the new Tory leader. She emerged winner in a survey published by ConservativeHome, that looked at how Conservative party members would vote for all the candidates in one-to-one contests, a report said. The new UK PM will be announced on September 5.

PENNY MORDAUNT is the only major contender who is not in Boris Johnson's Cabinet to be running as his replacement, but where exactly does the hopeful ...

Where does the Minister of State for international trade live? DON'T MISS: Where does Liz Truss live now? Penny Mordaunt has been branded a ‘dark horse’, tipped as the favourite candidate to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party.

Sunak Wins First Round of Tory Contest to Succeed Johnson · Former chancellor gets 88 votes, Mordaunt second with 67 · Next ballot of Conservative MPs is ...

'Mordmentum' with little-known ex-defence secretary – who appears to be clear favourite of party members.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. She is also now the bookmakers’ favourite – and landed the support of Tory vice-chair Mike Penning, who quit the post in order to support her. Mr Mordaunt leapfrogged Liz Truss into second place, ahead of a second ballot today, and is also the overwhelming choice of the Tory grassroots who will pick the next leader, according to a bombshell poll.

Scramble is on for Tory hopefuls to pick up the votes of Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi, who have been eliminated.

That could all change with the TV debates on Friday and Sunday. With Braverman likely to be eliminated in tomorrow’s vote, the remaining five are set to participate. After the announcement, one ally of the Foreign Secretary described the results unenthusiastically as “solid”. She will have lost votes to Braverman and to Kemi Badenoch, who was only ten votes behind her. One ally of Sunak, the former chancellor, predicted that some survivors may fail to secure the requisite 30 votes tomorrow as MPs focus on the leaders.

The trade minister has been described as 'continuity Boris Johnson' and 'Theresa May with bigger hair' but her allies say her most important quality is ...

An MP who knows Ms Mordaunt well says this is a “dirty trick” and that she is “resolutely wedded to her red box”. One MP who knows her well says she can. The source added that her stance on trans rights might prove a stumbling block. Many see her as a strong contender to face the ex-Chancellor in the final run-off. Her grandmother’s cousin is Dame Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote fame, and she starred, whie an MP, in the celebrity diving programme Splash!, donating her £10,000 appearance fee to charity. Ms Perrior, who has known the leadership candidate for more than 20 years, says: “She trained me and I looked up to her.

FORMER Brexit Secretary David Davis branded Penny Mordaunt as the best candidate to take over the Conservative Party leadership as she 'bravely defended ...

She then said: "I do feel strongly that I need to stand up for what is in the national interest... "A lot of people will say they really like her, really admire her. David Davis, a heavyweight in the Conservative Party, has endorsed the international trade ministers over her track record of defending Brexit despite resistance when Theresa May was still in power. I’ve actually seen Penny in operation." She was the best performer. You know, she’s held two Cabinet posts.

Second survey in 24 hours suggests Brexiteer trade minister way ahead of rivals.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. She has also highlighted how she repeatedly stood up for women’s rights as minister for women and equalities from 2018 to 2019. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

Ex-chancellor and trade minister will face four other candidates in next round of voting by MPs.

The trade minister launched her pitch to be the next prime minister by assuring Conservative MPs she is best placed to keep them their seats.

“Well, they’re very sensible people because I’m a threat to their campaign,” she said, but added that the only people she will take the fight to is the Opposition. She argued that having stood on the same platform as Mr Johnson and other Tories in the 2019 election “we have a mandate and a big majority”. “I’m the candidate that Labour fear the most – and they’re right to,” she told Conservatives and reporters closely crammed into the sweltering room. The long-term Brexit backer said the Government supply side reforms would yield a “Brexit dividend” on investment, infrastructure and innovation. Leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has told Conservative MPs fearful of losing their seats under Boris Johnson that she is the candidate “Labour fear the most”. But she insisted she is “very different” from her would-be predecessor but indicated she would not call an early general election to win her own mandate if she entered No 10.

She clashed with right-wing Conservative MPs at a major hustings event attended by the six candidates left in the contest after the first round of voting.

At the 1922's hustings Sir John, a leading supporter of Ms Braverman, challenged Ms Mordaunt on the issue and was later said by colleagues to be "incandescent" at her reply. Ms Braverman is now one of Ms Mordaunt's leadership rivals and has already criticised her over a move to replace "woman" with "pregnant person" in the 2021 legislation. And she was challenged at a hustings staged by the 1922 Committee over her handling of a bill to allow Attorney General Suella Braverman to take maternity leave last year.

We'll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Conservative Party UK news every morning. Penny Mordaunt on Wednesday discovered the perils of ...

Jeremy Hunt and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi were both eliminated in the first round of voting among Tory MPs, with former chancellor Rishi Sunak topping the ballot ...

He said: “We will cut taxes and we will do it responsibly. That’s my economic approach. Around 160,000 Tory members will then choose the next party leader and prime minister. Elsewhere, former army officer Tom Tugendhat, who has pledged to boost defence spending, took a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Sunak’s refusal to set “arbitrary targets” in this area, telling reporters: “We will never put the safety of our country in doubt because of bean counters and spreadsheets. The naval reservist and former defence secretary pledged to return to traditional Conservative values of “low tax, small state and personal responsibility”. Mr Rees-Mogg argued that the Foreign Secretary is “fiscally on the right side of the argument”, unlike Mr Sunak. The minister told Sky News that Ms Truss “opposed the endless tax rises of the former chancellor, which I think have been economically damaging, I also was opposed to (them) in Cabinet”. Ms Mordaunt officially launched her campaign yesterday by telling colleagues who had been fearful of losing their seats under Mr Johnson’s leadership that she is their “best shot” at winning the next election. Ms Dorries, the Culture Secretary, accused the former chancellor’s campaign of deploying “dirty tricks” and backed Ms Truss as the Brexiteers’ candidate. Scottish Tory MP John Lamont, who is backing Ms Mordaunt, said the result of the first round of voting was “promising”. “Everyone in our great country should be born with the same opportunities and be able to know that the town they are born in has opportunity”. Mr Hunt, who failed to get the 30 votes required to get to the next stage, has held the offices of health and foreign secretary and lost to Mr Johnson in the 2019 leadership race.

'I didn't even know where she was,' says ex-negotiator in scathing attack on favourite's Brexit credentials.

Ms Truss has appealed to Brexiteers by claiming she was a “reluctant Remainer” at the 2016 Brexit referendum. “All three of those candidates … are saying very interesting things, things that the country needs to hear. ERG chair Mark Francois is backing Ms Truss, while several other leading figures in the group opt for Ms Braverman. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The right-wing Tory peer added: “She wasn’t always visible. Sometimes I didn’t even know where she was.

The trade minister and former defence secretary surged ahead of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after the first round of voting by Tory MPs.

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UK News: LONDON : Former finance minister Rishi Sunak might be the most popular contender with his colleagues to succeed Boris Johnson as party leader and ...

As the contest intensifies it has also becomefractious as rival camps trade barbs and some offer a series of eyecatching tax cutting pledges. The new leader will then be chosen from those two by the 200,000 Conservative Party members, and be announced on September 5. They will go through to a second round of voting on Thursday. Subsequent ballots will be held among the Conservative lawmakers, eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes each time, to whittle the field down to a final two by July 21.

Tory members predict trade minister will rise to top as former chancellor fails to clinch a high percentage of first round votes.

Former Brexit minister and other Liz Truss allies hit out at Mordaunt after she came second in first ballot.

“Even if the style is different, the substance will not be very different.” Mordaunt, who had little interaction with the EU during her ministerial career, is not well known in Brussels. Those who have followed her career are not enthused about her moving to No 10. “I’m afraid this became such a problem that after six months I had to ask the PM to move her on and find somebody else to support me. In an interview with the Spectator she suggested tax cuts could be paid for through extra borrowing. She wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the EU when that was necessary and I’m afraid she wasn’t fully accountable or always visible. “I’m sorry to say this, she did not master the necessary detail in the negotiations last year.

Penny Mordaunt's belly flop on ITV series Splash! goes viral as politician competes to become the next Prime Minister of the UK.

‘We will stand with Nato in defence of our common values and we will not flinch from the hard graft and putting boots on the ground on the alliance’s borders.’ Following her bid for leadership, Ms Mordaunt has vowed to make defence the ‘first duty’ of government should she emerge victorious in the race for Number 10. ‘Petition for ITV to put all episodes of Splash! on Demand if Penny gets to the final 2,’ one penned.

Rishi Sunak topped the first ballot of Tory MPs yesterday with 88 votes ahead of Penny Mordaunt on 67; The trade minister has become the bookies' favourite ...

And I'm afraid this became such a problem that after six months, I had to ask the Prime Minister to move her on and find somebody else to support me.' Mr Sunak also faced questions after failing to land the knockout blow his team had been expecting. However, separate research by Savanta ComRes tonight underlined the challenges Ms Mordaunt would face with the wider electorate. Late July and August - CCHQ will assume responsibility for leadership election and will send out ballot papers to around 200,000 Conservative Party members. 'I think our number one economic priority is to tackle inflation and not make it worse. But of course it doesn't.' The lowest-scoring candidate will be eliminated each time. One source said the rivals should 'recognise the reality of the situation'. Penny Mordaunt (right) performed better than expected in the first round. She has been installed as the bookies' favourite after bombshell polling suggested that she would win head-to-heads against any of her rivals. 'We are at a critical moment for our country,' she said. Ms Truss's team have unveiled ministers Ed Argar, James Heappey and Tom Purseglove as new backers.

In an excoriating interview on TalkTV just now, Lord Frost says he has 'grave reservations' about Penny Mordaunt becoming the prime minister.

The former Brexit negotiator, who quit Boris Johnson’s cabinet last year, told Julia Hartley-Brewer ‘To be honest, I'm quite surprised she is where she is in this race. I’m this became such a problem that after six months I had to ask the PM to move her on. Our country needs a leader who is tested and ready.’ Ouch.

A new poll conducted within the Conservative Party members taken immediately after the announcement of the final candidates for the prime ministerial race ...

Mordaunt's closest competitor head-to-head is Truss, who she defeated by 55 percent to 37 percent. Because the truth is worth it.) MP Kemi Badenoch came second at 15 percent, followed by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, at 13 percent each.

As former defence secretary tops poll of Conservative members, The Telegraph looks at her position on key issues.

Ms Mordaunt has said the UK will be able to take a more nimble approach on investment, infrastructure and innovation outside the bloc. She also unveiled plans to create a Civil Defence Force to help the Army with domestic duties, such as dealing with floods and security at major national events. To balance the state and generate wealth funds for future generations, cut taxes.” As well as promising to halve VAT on fuel, the former defence secretary would lift the earnings thresholds for income tax bands to take account of inflation. To improve options and opportunity for individuals, cut taxes. Ms Mordaunt has insisted that she will keep the net zero pledge, saying it could create up to three million new green jobs over the next eight years.

Analysis: Confident message from MP relatively untainted by association with Johnson seems to resonate with many Tories.

(Hunt has not returned the favour, swinging behind Sunak on Wednesday after winning just 18 votes in the first round). She is a trade minister – but unlike Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman or the ill-fated Nadhim Zahawi, did not sit in Boris Johnson’s cabinet, or form part of his inner circle. At her campaign launch on Wednesday, she took plenty of questions and parried them wryly – contrasting with the more senior Liz Truss’s woodenness at her own speech the next day.

Conservative front runner Penny Mordaunt has vowed to make defence the “first duty” of government and pledged to prioritise migration issues if she reaches ...

“We will stand with Nato in defence of our common values and we will not flinch from the hard graft and putting boots on the ground on the alliance’s borders.” MPs are voting today and I think they need to know the facts. “I’m incredibly proud of our armed forces,” Ms Mordaunt said. After surging ahead of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the first round of voting by Tory MPs, Ms Mordaunt said she would meet some of the UK's toughest security challenges head on. “I’ve been a member of our armed forces and I’m still pleased to be serving them as an honorary officer. “The defence of the realm is the first duty of any government," she wrote in the Mail newspaper.

Retired Army major claims ex armed forces minister let down veterans by supporting a criminal inquiry team set up to probe suspicious deaths.

We have given clear ministerial direction that those agents are not to be paid with public money, and we have received assurances that that is the case.” Ms Mordaunt replied: “I can give the assurance that, although the Ministry of Defence does not direct the investigations of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, it is responsible for ensuring that public money is spent well and efficiently. No member of the Ihat team, largely made up of retired police officers, ever travelled to Iraq. Thousands of cases had been brought to its attention by Phil Shiner, a solicitor struck off for dishonesty and who is now charged with fraud. Major Campbell was the most senior British Army officer investigated by Ihat over the drowning of Saeed Shabram, 19, in 2003. Ihat was finally shut down in June 2017 without a single veteran of the Iraq war ever being charged.

Seemingly from nowhere, the Minister of State for Trade Policy has become one of the front-runners in the battle to replace Boris Johnson in September.

Indeed, she's got a strong military background: her father was a parachuter before retraining as a teacher, and she was named after HMS Penelope. She was also a member of the Royal Navy from 2010-2019, and is currently the only female MP who is a Royal Naval Reserve. It is her military knowledge and experience that she hopes might help her get the top job at No 10, particularly in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. An MP for Portsmouth North since 2010, Penny's first big roles in government were under David Cameron, when she was both Armed Forces Minister and Defence Secretary, becoming the first woman to hold the former role. According to a report published in the Daily Mail earlier this week, only 11 per cent of the public can identify MP Penny Mordaunt when shown a photograph of her.