Penny Mordaunt - Wikipedia

British politician (born 1973)

Penelope Mary Mordaunt FRSA (; born 4 March 1973) is a British politician who has been serving as Minister of State for Trade Policy since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Portsmouth North since 2010. She previously served in Theresa May's Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from May to July 2019.

Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, before working in the public relations industry. She held roles within the Conservative Party under party leaders John Major and William Hague, and also worked for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004. Mordaunt was elected to the House of Commons in May 2010. Under the coalition government of David Cameron, she served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Decentralisation from 2014 to 2015. After the 2015 general election, Cameron promoted her to Minister of State for the Armed Forces, the first woman to hold the post. Mordaunt supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership. Following Theresa May's appointment as Prime Minister, Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health. In 2017, following the resignation of Priti Patel, she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development. She also served as Minister for Women and Equalities from 2018 to 2019.

In May 2019, Mordaunt was appointed Secretary of State for Defence, replacing Gavin Williamson, becoming the first woman to hold the post. She served as Defence Secretary for 85 days before being removed from the position by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In the February 2020 reshuffle, she re-entered government as Paymaster General. In the 2021 reshuffle, she was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy.

Following Johnson's resignation in July 2022, Mordaunt announced that she was running in the leadership race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and therefore the next prime minister.

Early life and career

Mordaunt was born on 4 March 1973 in Torquay, Devon.[2][3][4] The daughter of a former paratrooper, she states she was named after the Arethusa-class cruiser HMS Penelope.[5] Her father, John Mordaunt, born at Hilsea Barracks, served in the Parachute Regiment before retraining as a teacher, and later a youth worker for Hampshire Council.[6] Her mother, Jennifer (née Snowden), was a special needs teacher at several Purbrook schools.[6] Through her mother she is a relative of Philip Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer.[7] The actress Dame Angela Lansbury is her grandmother's cousin,[8][9] and she is thus distantly related to the former Labour leader George Lansbury.[10] Mordaunt has two brothers: her twin, James, and a younger brother, Edward.[11] Mordaunt was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Waterlooville, Hampshire and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School.[12]

Mordaunt was 15 when her mother died of breast cancer and, following her twin brother in leaving school, she became her younger brother Edward's primary caregiver. The following year her father was also diagnosed with cancer, from which he recovered. To pay her way through her studies, Mordaunt worked in a Johnson & Johnson factory, and became a magician's assistant to Will Ayling, a past President of the Portsmouth Magical Society and of The British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.[13][14]

Mordaunt has attributed her interest in politics to her experiences working in hospitals and orphanages of Romania in her gap year, while that country was in the aftermath of the 1989 revolution.[15]

Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, graduating in 1995 with upper second class honours. She was the first member of her family to attend university.[11] Mordaunt was active in student politics and served as President of the Reading University Students' Union.[16]

After her graduation, Mordaunt's employment was focused on public relations in various sectors. Under Prime Minister John Major she was Head of Youth for the Conservative Party, before working for two years as Head of Broadcasting for the party under party leader William Hague (1999–2001).[4][11] She worked as a communications specialist for the Freight Transport Association (now Logistics UK) from 1997 to 1999. In 2000, she worked briefly as Head of Foreign Press for George W. Bush's presidential campaign.[17][18] She was Communications Director for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 2001 to 2003, before leaving to set up a new Anglo-American website called 'virtualconservatives'.[19][11] From 2004 to 2006, she was a director of Media Intelligence Partners.[4]

Mordaunt worked for the Bush campaign again in 2004.[20] She was a director at the Community Fund, which merged with the New Opportunities Fund to create the Big Lottery Fund, and created the Veterans Reunited programme, enabling service men and women to visit World War II battlefields and be involved in commemorative events.[6] Mordaunt worked for the Big Lottery Fund from 2003 to 2005.[4] In 2006, she became one of six directors at charity Diabetes UK, a role she held until 2009.[4][21][22]

Parliamentary career

In November 2003 Mordaunt was selected as Conservative candidate to contest Portsmouth North in the 2005 general election. She attained a 5.5% swing towards the Conservatives,[11] but lost to Labour candidate Sarah McCarthy-Fry by 1,139 votes.[23] A critic of women-only shortlists,[24][25] Mordaunt worked after the 2005 election as chief of staff for David Willetts's aborted leadership campaign.[26]

Mordaunt was re-selected in January 2006 to contest Portsmouth North at the 2010 general election.[11] At the election, she won the seat with an 8.6% swing from Labour, giving her a 7,289 majority. She was re-elected at the 2015, 2017, and 2019 general elections.

After her election in 2010, she was a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014.[27]

Mordaunt served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Decentralisation from 2014 to 2015, prior to being appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 2015, the first woman to hold the post.[8][28]

During Mordaunt's time as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Communities and Local government, she was accused by the Fire Brigades Union "of misleading MPs over assurances given to firefighters from fire authorities regarding what would happen to their pensions if they fail fitness tests". This dispute led to strike action by firefighters over the increase of retirement age.[29]

When receiving the Speech of the Year award at The Spectator magazine's Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in November 2014, Mordaunt said that she had delivered a speech in the House of Commons just before the Easter recess in 2013 on poultry welfare so as to use the word "cock", as a forfeit for a misdemeanour during Naval Reserve training.[30][31] She used the word "cock" six times and "lay" or "laid" five times. Following her comments, she was accused by Labour MP Kate Hoey of trivialising parliament.[32]

In 2014, Mordaunt proposed the loyal address in reply to the Queen's speech from the throne.[33][34]

In 2014, Mordaunt appeared on reality television programme Splash! Although her Labour opponents criticised the media appearance, questioning whether her focus should instead have been on her constituency work,[35] Mordaunt stated that the response was overwhelmingly positive and defended her appearance,[36] stating that she was donating all of her £10,000 appearance fee plus any additional sponsorship to charity; £7,000 towards the renovation of her local lido and the rest to four armed services charities.[37]

In the EU membership referendum, Mordaunt supported Brexit.[38]

In June 2020, in response to vandalism of war memorials, Mordaunt stated: "I would like to suggest that for some found guilty of vandalising such memorials they might benefit from some time spent with our service personnel – perhaps at a battle camp. That might give them a new appreciation of just what these people go through for their sakes."[39]

In June 2020, Mordaunt said that some Overseas Development Assistance should instead be spent on a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia.[40]

Secretary of State for International Development

Mordaunt was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on 9 November 2017, after Priti Patel resigned.[41]

In February 2018, an investigation by The Times newspaper revealed allegations of misconduct by Oxfam staff operating in Haiti, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Mordaunt argued that Oxfam, which had received £32m in Government funds in the previous financial year, had failed in its "moral leadership" over the scandal. She also said that Oxfam did "absolutely the wrong thing" by not reporting the detail of the allegations to the Government. Mordaunt felt it was important for aid organisations to report offences because she suspected that there were paedophiles "targeting" the charity sector in order to carry out predatory activities.[42]

Minister for Women and Equalities

She became Minister for Women and Equalities in April 2018, replacing Amber Rudd, who had resigned following the Windrush scandal.[43] In July 2018 she became the first minister to use sign language in the House of Commons, to applause from all sides.[44] In March 2019, she was criticised in a newspaper article by Maya Forstater, who claimed she had not answered to some Mumsnet users' satisfaction questions on sex and gender during a webchat held on International Women's Day.[45]

In Parliament she previously sat on the Privacy and Injunctions (Joint Committee), the Defence Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Committees on Arms Export Controls (formerly Quadripartite Committee).[46]

Secretary of State for Defence

On 1 May 2019, Mordaunt was appointed as the first-ever female secretary of state for defence following the dismissal of Gavin Williamson.[47] After Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, Mordaunt left the Government on 24 July 2019.[48]

Later ministerial career

In a cabinet reshuffle in February 2020, Mordaunt re-entered the Government, joining the Cabinet Office as Paymaster General in succession to Oliver Dowden.[49] She was the UK alternate co-chair of the EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee.[50] She was made Minister of State for Trade Policy in the 2021 cabinet reshuffle.[51]

Conservative Party leadership contest 2022

Logo used by Mordaunt's 2022 leadership bid

In July 2022, Mordaunt launched her bid to be the next Conservative leader and consequently UK prime minister.[52] An early promotional video published by her campaign attracted criticism for featuring footage of former professional sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.[52][53][54] Athlete Jonnie Peacock requested to be removed from the same video published by her campaign.[55][56] Mordaunt's campaign edited the video to remove footage of Peacock and Pistorius.[53]

Early in the contest, journalist Owen Jones accused Mordaunt of "throwing trans people under a bus to advance her own career" after she appeared to negate her 2018 statement that "trans women are women and trans men are men" by insisting on a strictly biological basis for womanhood.[57] After one of the favourites to become the next Conservative leader Ben Wallace announced he would not stand,[58] Mordaunt was favourite in polling conducted by political blog ConservativeHome.[59]

Mordaunt was one of eight contenders who achieved the necessary 20 nominations by the 12 July deadline. Three other candidates had to drop out earlier that day. As at close of nominations, Mordaunt and Rishi Sunak were being reported as joint favourites with bookmakers.[60]

Parliamentary support

The following table shows how many MPs supported Mordaunt during each election round:

Date Votes Received % Position / Candidates Ref
13 July 2022 67 18.7 2 / 8 [61]
14 July 2022 83 23.3 2 / 6 [62]
18 July 2022

Naval service

Mordaunt is a Royal Naval Reservist. In 2010, she was serving as an acting sub-lieutenant, at shore establishment HMS King Alfred on Whale Island.[63][64][65] From May 2015 until April 2019, she had no annual training commitment and received no remuneration from the Navy.[66] She was made an honorary commander in April 2019,[66] and an honorary captain on 30 June 2021.[67] As of 2022[update],[failed verification ] she was the only female MP in the Royal Naval Reserve.[68]

Personal life

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, she is a member of the British Astronomical Association,[69] and as of 2013 was chair of the Wymering Manor Trust in Portsmouth.[70] She ran the League of Friends visiting team at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth for eight years.[6] She is a patron of the Victoria Cross Trust, and Enable Ability, a disability charity based in Portsmouth, in addition to being a Scouting ambassador.[6]

Mordaunt met Paul Murray when they were both students at the University of Reading and married him in 1999, but this ended in divorce the following year.[71][72] She was later in a long-term relationship with Ian Lyon, a classical singer.[73] They had no children of their own, but Lyon had a 16 year old daughter. Her hobbies include astronomy, painting, dance and music.[74][4][6] She owns four Burmese cats.[75]

Mordaunt is a descendant of Denis and Mary Mordaunt, who were born in County Wexford, Ireland, during the late 18th century, according to a genealogy website maintained by her uncle Henry Mordaunt.[76]

Publications

References

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  3. ^ Mordaunt, Penny (2009). Penny welcome video blog. YouTube. Event occurs at 0:05. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021 . Retrieved 21 December 2018 .
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Mordaunt, Rt Hon. Penelope Mary, (Rt Hon. Penny), (born 4 March 1973), PC 2017; MP (C) Portsmouth North, since 2010; Minister of State, Department for International Trade, since 2021". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u251190 . Retrieved 14 July 2022 .
  5. ^ "Strategic Defence and Security Review". Hansard - UK Parliament. 21 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Meet Your Portsmouth North MP". Age UK . Retrieved 13 July 2022 .
  7. ^ Kinchen, Rosie (12 January 2014). "Penny Mordaunt: Get fresh and the mermaid of Westminster will break your arm" . The Sunday Times.
  8. ^ a b Hope, Christopher (15 July 2014). "Pen portraits of the 10 Conservative women ministers who were promoted in the reshuffle" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 15 July 2014 .
  9. ^ Bell, Matthew (18 March 2004). "The Feral Beast: Cecilia pins her hopes on the Pope" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  10. ^ Profile: Penny Mordaunt, a risqué but not revolting potential Tory leadership contender Conservative Home, March 17 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Penny Mordaunt profile". conservatives.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010 . Retrieved 8 May 2015 .
  12. ^ "Penny Mordaunt: Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North". conservatives.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014 . Retrieved 8 May 2015 .
  13. ^ "Who is Penny Mordaunt? Navy reservist vying for Tory leadership". Metro (British newspaper) . Retrieved 14 July 2022 .
  14. ^ Darren Slade (9 November 2017). "New minister Penny Mordaunt sawn in half in Bournemouth hotels". Bournemouth Echo . Retrieved 6 July 2022 .
  15. ^ Murphy, Joe (18 March 2004). "Howard's harem". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013 . Retrieved 8 May 2015 .
  16. ^ "Penny Mordaunt MP renames landmark University building and gives annual Edith Morley Lecture". University of Reading. 10 March 2017 . Retrieved 14 August 2021 .
  17. ^ "The role of women in McCain's presidential campaign". Woman's Hour. 1 September 2008. BBC Radio 4.
  18. ^ Brogan, Benedict (14 June 2001). "Bush's black spin doctor backs Hague" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
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  20. ^ Hamilton-Miller, Tara (3 January 2008). "Tara's top Tories". New Statesman . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  21. ^ Black, Alex (4 May 2006). "Profile: Penny Mordaunt, Diabetes UK". PR Week . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  22. ^ "Executive Team". Diabetes UK. Archived from the original on 23 May 2008 . Retrieved 7 October 2018 .
  23. ^ "Hopefuls tackle Pompey FC crisis". BBC News. 3 May 2010.
  24. ^ Appleton, Josie (20 April 2005). "How will women vote?". Spiked . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  25. ^ Woolf, Marie (15 January 2005). "Tories face call for positive discrimination" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  26. ^ "Tory Leadership Watch: August". BBC News. August 2005 . Retrieved 16 May 2009 .
  27. ^ "House of Commons Public Bill Committee on the Defence Reform Bill 2013–14". UK Parliament . Retrieved 17 September 2013 .
  28. ^ Kelly, Liam (15 July 2014). "Brandon Lewis promoted to housing and planning minister in reshuffle". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 July 2014 .
  29. ^ Press Association (16 February 2016). "Firefighters in England announce new industrial action". The Guardian . Retrieved 16 February 2016 .
  30. ^ Mason, Chris (1 December 2014). "Penny Mordaunt speech: Fowl play or light-hearted fun?". BBC News . Retrieved 7 December 2014 .
  31. ^ "Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt criticised for smutty Commons speech delivered 'for a dare' ". Evening Standard. 30 November 2014 . Retrieved 7 December 2014 .
  32. ^ Eleftheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae (30 November 2014). "Tory MP Penny Mordaunt said 'c**k' several times in Parliament speech as part of Navy dare" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 . Retrieved 7 December 2014 .
  33. ^ Mason, Rowena (4 June 2014). "Penny Mordaunt brings the House down after Queen's speech". The Guardian.
  34. ^ Gimson, Andrew (17 March 2016). "Profile: Penny Mordaunt, a risqué but not revolting potential Tory leadership contender". ConservativeHome . Retrieved 19 September 2016 .
  35. ^ Mason, Rowena (8 January 2014). "Tory MP to be contestant on Splash!". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 July 2022 .
  36. ^ Booth, Jenny (14 January 2014). "Tory MP Penny Mordaunt defends appearing in swimsuit on TV reality show" . The Times . Retrieved 18 January 2014 .
  37. ^ Devlin, Kate (2 May 2019). "First female defence secretary Penny Mordaunt has armed forces in her blood" . The Times.
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  39. ^ "Penny Mordaunt calls for cenotaph vandals to be sent to 'battle camps' ". Sky News. 17 June 2020 . Retrieved 17 June 2020 .
  40. ^ Hope, Christopher (17 June 2020). "Spend the aid budget on a successor to HMY Britannia, Penny Mordaunt tells Boris Johnson" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 29 November 2020 .
  41. ^ "Penny Mordaunt replaces Priti Patel in cabinet reshuffle". BBC News. 9 November 2017 . Retrieved 9 November 2017 .
  42. ^ "Oxfam 'failed in moral leadership' ". BBC News. 11 February 2018 . Retrieved 11 February 2018 .
  43. ^ Elgot, Jessica (30 April 2018). "Penny Mordaunt adds women and equalities to ministerial role". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 November 2020 .
  44. ^ Minister Penny Mordaunt uses sign language in Commons first - video. The Guardian. 4 July 2018 . Retrieved 6 April 2022 .
  45. ^ Forstater, Maya (27 March 2019). "Has Penny Mordaunt got away with the worst Mumsnet performance ever?" . Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 . Retrieved 6 August 2021 .
  46. ^ "Parliamentary career for Penny Mordaunt". UK Parliament . Retrieved 7 October 2018 .
  47. ^ "Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson sacked over Huawei leak". BBC News. 1 May 2019 . Retrieved 1 May 2019 .
  48. ^ Devlin, Kate (24 July 2019). "Penny Mordaunt sacked as defence secretary" . The Times . Retrieved 29 November 2020 .
  49. ^ "Paymaster General". GOV.UK . Retrieved 17 June 2020 .
  50. ^ "Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee - Fact Sheet" (PDF) . GOV.UK . Retrieved 7 December 2020 .
  51. ^ Fishwick, Ben (16 September 2021). "Reshuffle sees Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt out as paymaster general in move to trade". Portsmouth News . Retrieved 16 September 2021 .
  52. ^ a b Tidman, Zoe (10 July 2022). "Oscar Pistorius appears in Tory campaign clip as GB Paralympian asks to be removed". The Independent.
  53. ^ a b Lemmer, Richard (10 July 2022). "MP Penny Mordaunt edits her campaign video after complaints over paralympics footage". portsmouth.co.uk.
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  55. ^ Jones, Henry (10 July 2022). "Awkward start to Penny Mordaunt's leadership campaign with hasty video edit". The Independent.
  56. ^ "Champion sprinter demands pic axed from Tory hopeful Penny Mordaunt's campaign video". LBC. 10 July 2022.
  57. ^ Tidman, Zoe (10 July 2022). "Tory MP accused of 'throwing trans people under bus' after hitting out at critics". The Independent.
  58. ^ "Boris Johnson resignation: Wallace rules out bid to replace PM". BBC News. 9 July 2022 . Retrieved 11 July 2022 .
  59. ^ Goodman, Paul (11 July 2022). "Our latest Next Tory Leader Survey. Mordaunt leads Badenoch by under ten votes in over eight hundred". Conservative Home . Retrieved 11 July 2022 .
  60. ^ "As it happened: Eight contenders in race for next PM after Javid pulls out". BBC News. 12 July 2022 . Retrieved 12 July 2022 .
  61. ^ "Rishi Sunak wins first round of Tory leadership vote". BBC News. 13 July 2022 . Retrieved 13 July 2022 .
  62. ^ "Braverman out as Sunak winsand Mordaunt second in Tory vote". BBC News. 13 July 2022 . Retrieved 14 July 2022 .
  63. ^ "The Register of Members' Financial Interests: MORDAUNT, Penny (Portsmouth North)". parliament.uk. 25 October 2010 . Retrieved 9 July 2022 .
  64. ^ Mordaunt, Penny (22 October 2010). "Diary of the week: Penny Mordaunt (blog)". TotalPolitics.com . Retrieved 3 December 2013 .
  65. ^ "Royal Naval Reservists mission on the Dart". Royal Navy. Ministry of Defence. 12 March 2014 . Retrieved 26 October 2016 .
  66. ^ a b "Changes to the Register of Members' Interests: Penny Mordaunt". TheyWorkForYou . Retrieved 9 July 2022 .
  67. ^ "No. 63542". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 November 2021. p. 21618.
  68. ^ Channon, Max (24 July 2019). "Navy reservist Penny Mordaunt no longer Defence Secretary". PlymouthLive . Retrieved 10 July 2022 .
  69. ^ "Penny Mordaunt's appointment applauded in Britain". The Sunday Guardian . Retrieved 13 July 2022 .
  70. ^ Stafford, Stephen (15 February 2013). "Volunteers' hopes for 'haunted' Wymering Manor". BBC News . Retrieved 15 July 2014 .
  71. ^ Dale, Iain (21 July 2019). "Penny Mordaunt interview: Britain's first female defence secretary on her dream job" . The Sunday Times . Retrieved 22 July 2019 .
  72. ^ Dale, Iain (21 July 2019). "Penny Mordaunt interview: Britain's first female defence secretary on her dream job" . Retrieved 13 July 2022 .
  73. ^ Fishwick, Samuel (6 February 2015). "All aboard with Penny Mordaunt". Evening Standard . Retrieved 22 July 2019 .
  74. ^ "Allison Pearson: It is perfectly clear that Penny Mordaunt must be our next prime minister". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 13 July 2022 .
  75. ^ Horton, Helena (15 September 2016). "Westminster mouse infestation so bad MP Penny Mordaunt brings her own pedigree cat to office". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 14 July 2022 .
  76. ^ Mordaunt, Henry Charles (September 2020). "My Own Family History - descendents of Denis (1783 - 1868) and Mary Mordaunt, County Wexford, Ireland". mordauntfamilyhistory.com.

External links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Mordaunt