In May 2019, Mordaunt was appointed to the senior Cabinet post of 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 returning to the backbenches, having been removed from the position by the 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 announcement in July 2022 that he would resign as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, Mordaunt entered the leadership contest to succeed him, but was eliminated in the final round of voting among Conservative MPs and subsequently endorsed Truss. Mordaunt was appointed as Leader of the House of Commons when Truss became Prime Minister. Following Truss's resignation on 20 October 2022, Mordaunt made a second bid to become Conservative leader and Prime Minister. She pulled out of the election after being unable to gain the necessary endorsement of 100 MPs, allowing Sunak to become Conservative leader and Prime Minister unopposed. Sunak later retained Mordaunt in his cabinet, continuing as leader of the House of Commons.
The Mordaunt family were originally from near Gorey in North Wexford, where the family surname was often spelt and pronounced as 'Morning' up until the 1840s.[13][15] Penny's paternal great-great-grandfather, Edward Mordaunt (1831–1917), was originally from Ballintlea, a townland just north-west of Gorey, where he was very prominent in the Irish National Land League in the 1880s.[13][14][15][16] Because of his involvement in Land League and other Irish nationalist activities, Edward Mordaunt was evicted from his small farm, forcing him to move to Monamolin, a village further south in County Wexford, where he settled with his family.[13][15] Penny Mordaunt has two brothers: her twin, James, and a younger brother, Edward.[17] Mordaunt was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic School in Waterlooville, Hampshire, and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School.[18]
Mordaunt was 15 when her mother died of breast cancer and after 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. In order to support her time at university Mordaunt worked in a Johnson & Johnson factory, and became a magician's assistant to Will Ayling, a past president of the Portsmouth and District Magic Circle and of the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.[19]
Mordaunt has attributed her interest in politics to her experiences whilst working in hospitals and orphanages of Romania while that country was in the aftermath of the 1989 revolution.[20] Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, graduating in 1995 with upper second class honours. Although her parents had both undertaken further education, Mordaunt was the first member of her family to attend university.[17] Mordaunt was active in student politics and served as president of the Reading University Students' Union.[21]
Commercial and professional career
After 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 leaderWilliam Hague (1999–2001).[4][17] 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.[22][23]
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'.[24][17]Lord Moylan, who was the deputy leader of Kensington and Chelsea council where Mordaunt was hired as a Director of Communications, said: "We had to get rid of her after a few months because she was incompetent."[25]
From 2004 to 2006, she was a director of Media Intelligence Partners.[4] Mordaunt worked for the Bush campaign again in 2004.[26] 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.[8] 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][27][28]
Entry into parliament
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,[17] but lost to Labour candidate Sarah McCarthy-Fry by 1,139 votes.[29] A critic of women-only shortlists,[30][31] Mordaunt worked after the 2005 election as chief of staff for David Willetts's aborted leadership campaign.[32]
Mordaunt was re-selected in January 2006 to contest Portsmouth North at the 2010 general election.[17] 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.[33] In Parliament, she has also 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).[34]
In 2014, Mordaunt proposed the loyal address in reply to the Queen's speech from the throne.[35][36] 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.[37][38] 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.[39]
During Mordaunt's time as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Decentralisation, 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.[41]
Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces in May 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the post.[42] Major Robert Campbell, who was investigated and exonerated over the death of an Iraqi in 2003, criticised Mordaunt for backing the Iraq Historic Allegations Team while she was Armed Forces Minister, stating: "Now she is depicting herself as the armed forces champion but she never did anything for me. She needs to apologise for how we were treated. She failed us as armed forces champion."[43]
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.[45]
On 6 May 2023, Mordaunt took part in the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla, presenting the Jewelled Sword of Offering, in her ceremonial role as Lord President of the Privy Council and bearer of the Sword of State.[59] She became the first woman ever to fulfil the role. Mordaunt's outfit and overall performance in carrying the heavy Sword of State went viral online.[60] Mordaunt wore a teal-shade caped dress, with golden ferns embroidered by the London embroidery atelier Hand and Lock, and a matching hat, with nude suedeblock heels and drop pearl earrings.[61] Mordaunt said that she took painkillers before the ceremony.[62]
In July 2022, following the resignation of Boris Johnson during the July 2022 government crisis, Mordaunt launched an ultimately unsuccessful bid to be the next Conservative leader and consequently UK prime minister.[63][64] An early promotional video published by her campaign attracted criticism for featuring footage of former professional sprinterOscar Pistorius, who murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.[64][65][66] Athlete Jonnie Peacock requested to be removed from the same video published by her campaign.[67][68] Mordaunt's campaign edited the video to remove footage of Peacock and Pistorius,[65] and later issued a third edition of the video with a short clip of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox removed, following a request from Cox's family.[69]
In 2018, Mordaunt, the then women and equalities minister, told MPs that "trans men are men, trans women are women" at the launch of a consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act.[70] Several Conservative activists criticised Mordaunt "for her pro-trans stance" according to reports by the Daily Telegraph published on 8 July 2022 the day after Boris Johnson's resignation as Conservative party leader.[71] On the following day, shortly before she launched her bid for the leadership of the Conservative party, Mordaunt responded to the question "Do I know what a woman is?" by writing on Twitter: "I am biologically a woman. If I have a hysterectomy or mastectomy, I am still a woman. And I am legally a woman. Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That DOES NOT mean they are biological women, like me."[72]The Spectator noted Mordaunt's earlier stance on trans issues, and was critical of what it called her "cowardice" in changing her publicly stated views, being "willing to toss them overboard at her earliest convenience" during her leadership campaign.[73][74]The Times described her as a "socially liberal Brexiteer".[75]
Mordaunt was one of eight contenders who achieved the necessary 20 nominations by 12 July deadline. Three other candidates had to drop out earlier that day.[76] On 20 July, Mordaunt was eliminated from the fifth round of the leadership competition after failing to secure sufficient support from Conservative MPs.[63] On 1 August 2022, Mordaunt declared her support for Liz Truss in the final round of the leadership contest.[77]
Following the resignation of Truss during the October 2022 government crisis, Mordaunt declared she would seek nomination in the ensuing Conservative Party leadership election. However, after only 27 MPs publicly backed her nomination, she pulled out of the election, allowing Rishi Sunak to become leader unopposed. She tweeted her withdrawal two minutes before the 2pm deadline on 24 October, by which candidates needed to have 100 nominations, and then issued a statement.[83][84]
In May 2015 she was placed onto Reserve 'List 6',[1] a category for personnel unable to meet any training commitment in excess of a year;[87] she had "no annual training commitment and received no remuneration" from the Royal Navy during this time.[1] She remained on List 6 until April 2019, at which point she left the Reserve.[1] Appointed honorarycommander in April 2019,[88] she was promoted honorarycaptainRNR on 30 June 2021.[89]
Views and activities
Splash! appearance
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,[90] Mordaunt stated that the response was overwhelmingly positive and defended her appearance,[91] 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.[92]
Brexit
In the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Mordaunt supported Brexit.[93] During the referendum campaign, Mordaunt said the United Kingdom did not have a veto to Turkey joining the European Union.[94] Given this is a provision of the Treaty on European Union, Mordaunt was accused of 'lying' over the matter.[95][96] When challenged about her claim, Mordaunt said: "There is a provision for a veto but we could not have used it because David Cameron gave an undertaking that he would support their accession and having given that undertaking to a NATO country, he would not have been able to walk away."[97] She reiterated her defence of her 2016 comments during her Conservative Party leadership campaign in July 2022.[97]
Northern Ireland
Mordaunt voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. She has said in the House of Commons that the Northern Ireland protocol creates unique disadvantages for Northern Ireland.[98]
Homeopathy
Mordaunt has often advocated that the British National Health Service should fund the availability of homeopathy.[99][100] In 2010, she signed a Parliamentary Early Day Motion that claimed there was "overwhelming anecdotal evidence that homeopathy is effective" and called for the government to "maintain a policy of allowing health commissions to refer to homeopathic doctors and approved homeopaths".[99][101]
Muslim Council of Britain meeting
Since 2009, Labour, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition and Conservative governments have maintained a policy of "non-engagement" with the Muslim Council of Britain due to allegations the group does not represent the British Muslim community and claims that members of the council had made 'favourable' remarks about extremists in the past.[102][103]
As Paymaster General, Mordaunt met with the Secretary General of the MCB, Zara Mohammed, which Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society described as "shocking". A Government spokesperson told The Jewish Chronicle: "The UK government has a long-standing policy of not engaging with the MCB and that has not changed."[102]
Royal yachts
In June 2020, Mordaunt produced a proposal for a pair of ships with the primary role of specialising in trade, research, and humanitarian work. The vessels were to be funded by private, research, commercial and charitable funds, in partnership with the UK's Overseas Development Assistance budget. The vessels could also be used as "cost effective and secure" accommodation for members of the royal family on visits, so would effectively be successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia which had been decommissioned in 1997. Mordaunt said of it, “We know that industry would also support as would a growing coalition of commercial and trade ventures, research organisations, shipbuilders and ship support companies, maritime training organisations and medical and health projects”. The director of the Global Britain Programme at the Henry Jackson Society, said: "These new ships will help project Britain's image around the world".[104]
Vandalism of war memorials
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."[105]
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.[110][111] She was by 2015 in a long-term relationship with businessman Ian Lyon, a part-time classical singer.[112] Mordaunt's hobbies include astronomy, painting, dance and music.[113][4][8] She owns four Burmese cats.[114] Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine she took a Ukrainian refugee into her home.[115]
In July 2022, Hampshire Police said they were investigating death threats sent to Mordaunt. She strengthened her security after a letter was sent to her constituency office threatening to "shoot her in the head" and "kill her family" if she did not quit as an MP.[116][117]
^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.
^"Penelope Mary Mordaunt"Archived 20 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 20 July 2022 (subscription required)
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