Penny Mordaunt

Michael Fabricant, the Conservative MP for Lichfield, described the international trade minister as “credible” and “believable”, further fighting the ...

Mr Fabricant claimed Ms Mordaunt was popular not only among the Conservative members but is “the most popular in the country generally”, adding that she is the person “that Keir Starmer does fear the most”. It comes after Ms Mordaunt faced a number of attacks during Friday’s televised debate and her first public chance to prove her credentials for the prime ministerial role. You set out your position and I asked why on earth it was necessary and you told me because the boss wanted it," he said to more applause. PENNY MORDAUNT has got the "IT factor" and the extent of political campaigning against her shows the "front runners are very, very worried" about her prospects, an MP has claimed.

Boris Johnson cited Ms Mordaunt as an example of a minister believed to be preparing to quit in a conversation last month. says source.

Mr Sunak’s team denied they owned the second address. One colleague approached by Ms Mordaunt in January as she canvassed support for a leadership bid, said: “She told me at the time that she was funded and ready to go.” Boris Johnson singled out Penny Mordaunt as a minister he feared was preparing to destablise the Government weeks ago, The Telegraph can disclose, as it was claimed the trade minister told colleagues in January her leadership campaign was “ready to go”.

Badenoch has cut through from close second to decisive first. Mordaunt has slipped to third, Truss is up to second, Sunak is hard on their heels.

Then, she was on the same percentage as Mordaunt, and a mere eight votes behind. So as the Parliamentary ballots proceed and unsuccessful candidates drop out, the panel’s view is firming up. Truss, meanwhile, is fighting to get ahead of Mordaunt and make it to the final ballot. Badenoch was doing suggestively well last Tuesday, and today she is doing even better. Last Tuesday, she held 19 per cent of the vote. The margin between them was narrow: Mordaunt led Badenoch by under ten votes in over eight hundred.

Bookmakers' favourite to replace Johnson as PM accuses other campaigns of running 'black ops' briefings against her.

“The first job that I had in government, I managed to bring the firefighters dispute, pensions dispute and strikes to an end. In a separate spat, Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch clashed over the former’s views on trans rights. “Look at my record, look at what I’ve done,” she said.

The campaign teams of the remaining Tory leadership contenders have been assessing the impact of the first TV debate which saw Penny Mordaunt come under ...

That cannot be allowed to happen." You set out your position and I asked why on earth it was necessary and you told me because the boss wanted it," he said to more applause. Mr Sunak, who topped the first two polls, also attacked Ms Truss - who is also promising tax cuts - after she pinned the blame for rising inflation on the Bank of England. Her campaign team later pointing to comments by Jayne Ozanne, a former government adviser on LGBT issues, who said Ms Mordaunt was "speaking truth" and accusing Ms Truss and Ms Badenoch of "spinning facts". In the first flashpoint of the evening, Ms Truss joined Kemi Badenoch in accusing Ms Mordaunt of pursuing a policy of gender self-identification when she had responsibility for equalities - something she strongly denied. Ms Badenoch said she found her denial "difficult" to accept, as that was the policy she found in place when she became equalities minister in 2020.

TORIES ganged up on leadership favourite Penny Mordaunt last night in a bid to stop her being the next PM.They united to launch a mud-slinging blitz a.

TORIES ganged up on leadership favourite Penny Mordaunt last night in a bid to stop her being the next PM. But writing for The Sun on Sunday today, Ms Mordaunt said her key ambition as PM would be to deliver the Brexit dividend. Tory rivals gang up on leadership favourite Penny Mordaunt in bid to stop her being next PM

Even some of her political opponents back the Portsmouth North MP in the race to succeed Johnson.

“Penny has been very supportive of Portsmouth Pride. In 2017 she even brought a trans woman to Pride to speak,” he says. While she has called out water companies pumping untreated sewage into the sea, last year she voted against an amendment that would have required firms to stop discharges, and this year she voted against measures to punish firms when animals die in polluted water. Vernon-Jackson, who has messaged Mordaunt to wish her well in the leadership election, says she helped secure levelling-up funding to build a new cruise ship terminal and, alongside the city’s Labour MP, succeeded in stopping the construction of an unpopular cross-Channel powerline. She’s a normal person – she has a very normal background.” “She is genuine, and that’s a rare thing in politics. “She outshone everyone else [in the meeting] and she has just got better and better,” says Jonas in his living room adorned with paintings of British military battles.

While Tom Tugendhat won the public opinion poll after last night's debate, this is a race that will be decided by Tory members – and they seem to have a new ...

The bookmakers are still betting that Tory MPs will not let Badenoch get to the final two (below) and you can certainly see why. They're pointing right now to a Sunak vs Mordaunt final, but anything can still happen. Sunak has the lead with MPs and took 101 votes last time.

Ms Mordaunt, who has been accused of backtracking over her views on trans rights, posed for a photograph with activist Sue Pascoe at a £50000 garden party ...

‘And that means reducing or keeping down the number of people who transition.’ You just read out what she wanted to do to stop people transitioning. Ms Pascoe is one of the highest profile trans activists in the Tory Party. She was born Graham Pascoe and lived as a man for 50 years before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in India. ‘I didn’t mention anything about Nazis,’ she said. A key backer of Penny Mordaunt’s bid to become Prime Minister is a militant transgender rights activist who once appeared to compare a feminist author to the Nazis. Pictured with Sue Pascoe, right A key backer of Penny Mordaunt’s bid to become Prime Minister is a militant transgender rights activist who once appeared to compare a feminist author to the Nazis.

In the first televised debate on Friday, former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who also has responsibility for equality ...

This would help safeguard vulnerable individuals, and would also provide a defence against potential vexatious applications.” “Arguing about policy is one thing, but questioning Penny’s values and integrity must be challenged. Ms Mordaunt strongly challenged the claims.

Penny Mordaunt's claims that she has never supported gender self-identification came under fresh scrutiny after leaked government documents suggested she ...

Penny Mordaunt - one of the frontrunners to replace Boris Johnson - has described climate change as an 'existential threat' but voted against measures aimed ...

And the EU has just published a report saying climate change is “making countries more prone to wildfires”. But she has pledged to slash green levies from energy bills and halve the VAT for fuel. But within months she was accused of bungling polls to fill other union committee roles. The habitual climate alarmism is mainly driven by scientists’ computer modelling, rather than observational evidence.” He told the open-Democracy website in 2019: “No one has proved yet that CO2 is the culprit. If you ask me should we just put CO2 in the air, I would say ‘no’. Reports at the time described the scenes as “election madness” and pictured a fresh-faced Ms Mordaunt – who went on to land a string of PR jobs. Ms Mordaunt’s record on climate change has raised eyebrows. “And that is the stance of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. It is a credible theory.” The group has been accused of “giving a platform to fringe climate science deniers” and getting “credibility within the political world through its high profile Westminster connections”. It says on its website: “We are deeply concerned about the impact of climate change policies: that they may be doing more harm than good, to the world’s poorest people and the environment.” Mr Mordaunt is a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a think-tank once branded “the UK’s most prominent source of climate-change denial”.

PENNY MORDAUNT has warned the drive towards carbon net zero is 'clobbering families' amid an already worrying cost of living crisis.

She wouldn't always deliver tough messages to the European Union when that was necessary. Sometimes I didn't even know where she was. The tory leadership hopeful last night debated her rivals in a Channel 4 debate.

ANNA MIKHAILOVA: Oligarch and prominent Tory donor Alexander Temerko is 'torn' between backing Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss for PM, former Welsh Secretary Alun ...

He was a Tory adviser during the Theresa May era who in 2019 left to spearhead embattled Prince Andrew’s ‘fightback’ over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. He’s the former senior aide to David Cameron who was embroiled in the Uber lobbying campaign exposed by this newspaper well before the data dump repackaged by The Guardian this week. Hogan-Howe (not to investigate) was in charge of the bungled VIP child abuse Operation Midland and separately failed to discover why the Met ‘mass-shredded’ police corruption files. Keen Westminster watchers will know this is a favourite phrase of the very man Sunak is keen to distance himself from: one Michael Gove. Yet despite repeatedly asking her team to expand on what Mordaunt meant – will she overhaul the Tory donor gravy train, for example – sadly, reply came there none. Which, logically, explains the oligarch’s anger over Mordaunt’s opposition to his business plans.

On Friday's TV debate, the Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt said she had 'never been in favour' of letting people choose their own gender with ...

The source said: ‘The document you sent us demonstrated, regardless of whatever officials may have suggested, that Ministers insisted on some sort of medical requirement to remain. The Trade Minister has long been a vocal support of the trans community, which has come back to haunt her during the campaign. In the televised debate Ms Mordaunt said she would ‘not have divorced it [gender redefinition] from healthcare.’ On Friday’s TV debate, the Tory leadership candidate said she had ‘never been in favour’ of letting people choose their own gender with minimal medical involvement. more generally, I think there is still considerable further debate to be had publicly and politically about how far we want to move towards self-identification for transitioning.’ A gender recognition panel then decides if the applicant can officially change gender.

The Conservative leadership race is entering a crucial week. Penny Mordaunt hopes her years of grassroots activism are about to pay off.

Liz Lyon had been married to classical singer Ian for almost a decade when in 2009 he grew close to Tory leadership frontrunner Penny Mordaunt.

'Everybody else in the family is pro-Remain,' he said. Her uncle Henry Mordaunt said: 'I met Ian several times at family occasions, he was a nice man. We would talk about it until Penny appeared and then we stopped. He'd be a fantastic Cllr for Nelson ward and bring business experience to PCC (Portsmouth City Council),' she wrote. Ms Mordaunt was also beaten, but swept to victory in Portsmouth North five years later. Mr Lyon was elected as a member of Portsmouth City Council in 2015 when he declared a 'personal, non-prejudicial interest' namely that his partner 'is one of Portsmouth's MPs'. On the eve of his election, Ms Mordaunt tweeted her support.

Former chancellor vows to fast-track ripping up EU laws if he becomes prime minister.

“Arguing about policy is one thing, but questioning Penny’s values and integrity must be challenged. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Ms Mordaunt strongly challenged the claims. Rishi Sunak is pledging to scrap hundreds of remaining EU laws and regulations if he wins the race for the Tory crown in a fresh pitch to win over Brexiteers. Ms Mordaunt has denied the claims and said while she had ordered a review of the Gender Recognition Act, she was not in favour of self-identification and would “not have divorced it from healthcare”. Rishi Sunak is pledging to scrap hundreds of remaining EU laws and regulations if he wins the race for the Tory crown in a fresh pitch to win over Brexiteers.

The final five contenders in the Tory race will take part in the second televised debate tonight.

It is only human to want to provide for the next generation. This makes it harder for businesses to recruit staff, which impacts their career and pay prospects.” “Unfortunately this dream for so many of us is turning into a nightmare. – Monday July 18: Third round of voting. The MP for Saffron Walden outlined a focus on property ownership, border control and family as the “first, and best, source of welfare” as herself and the four other contenders still in the contest prepare for the second televised debate to be screened on ITV on Sunday evening. Tom Tugendhat says his “dream” of his children being able to afford their own home is “turning into a nightmare” as he sets out proposals on housing in the Tory leadership campaign.

Exclusive: Conservative leadership candidate sets out her views on climate change and the environment.

Mordaunt said, however: “The net zero transition provides the opportunity to create millions of jobs over the next decade. Sustainable farming for the longer term is an absolutely crucial part of how we, together, can protect our natural world.” She made the intervention after a fierce debate over climate targets in her party, with two of the remaining contenders, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat, critical of domestic carbon reduction pledges.

TORY leadership favourite Penny Mordaunt has been praised for excelling in a previous role – as a magician's glamorous assistant.She wore a tight-

TORY leadership favourite Penny Mordaunt has been praised for excelling in a previous role – as a magician’s glamorous assistant. She was sawn in half, strung up on a pole and she levitated. Penny Mordaunt praised for previous role as magician’s glamorous assistant

Sunak-backer Dominic Raab rubbishes argument – amid criticism of campaign for undermining UK's 'net zero' commitment.

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Her comments mark the toughest language yet on the bitter mudslinging that has swamped the Tory leadership race so far.

I’m not going to come onto your programme and make decisions that should be taken as part of a team when we’re in Government,” she told the BBC. Tom Tugendhat, who has never held a ministerial role, is currently in last place and risks being knocked out in the next ballot on Monday. “This contest is in danger of slipping into something else… We all know what is going on. “This has been rebutted many times. Penny Mordaunt has criticised the “number of smears” on her by leadership rivals, as she claimed the race to become Prime Minister is “being dragged down” by “toxic politics” and bitter Tory infighting.

Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has dismissed fresh claims about her views on transgender issues as “smears” and “toxic politics”.

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Penny Mordaunt has dismissed claims about her views on trans rights as "smears" - as former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith questioned ...

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The frontrunner blasted the Conservative leadership election for descending into 'toxic politics' - two minutes after defending a misleading claim she made ...

This would help safeguard vulnerable individuals, and would also provide a defence against potential vexatious applications." As part of the Vote Leave campaign, she said Turkey “are going to join” as part of a bid to persuade Brits to vote for Brexit. Ms Mordaunt said while she had ordered a review of the Gender Recognition Act, she was not in favour of self-identification and would "not have divorced it from healthcare". In a TV interview today, Ms Mordaunt said she “will have to do something this Autumn” to help with the cost of living - refused to say what it will be. “The poor British public have a month of this to go, they've got a month of us choosing their prime minister. The minister said trans people should have to get a diagnosis of dysphoria before legally changing their gender, and “we didn’t actually - on my shift - produce the policy”.

Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt has accused her own party of “turbo-charging” Scottish nationalism since devolution.

It puts him is in a very good place as we proceed to the few rounds of voting by MPs.” It is time for a steady hand on the tiller given all the economic problems we are facing right now.” He said Badenoch was an “incredible performer” and may be a future leader of the party. During a visit to Teesside, he said: “I think the number one economic priority we face as a country is inflation. “I don’t think that time is now, but it was no surprise to me that she performed well. I want to get a grip of inflation because inflation is what makes everybody poorer. It may be the beginning of a process unless we reverse the drift.” The poll of 4,500 people for the Sunday Telegraph by JL Partners shows 48% of people who voted Conservative in the 2019 General Election back the former chancellor. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has struggled to gain traction so far, could benefit from the votes of MPs currently supporting Kemi Badenoch. Commentators thought she performed well in the Channel 4 debate on Friday night and last night came top of a poll run by Conservative Home website. She wrote: “Most English people would need no excuse to join in the drinking on St Patrick’s or St David’s Day. As for Burns Night, well, try stopping them. But commentators say a winner is far from obvious at this stage as right-wing MPs battle to ensure they have a candidate in the final two. It is not even trusted.”

Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has claimed she is the victim of “smears” following fresh claims about her views on transgender issues. The international trade minister rejected claims she had ever pursued a policy of self-identification for ...

“We would have to adjust our tax forecasts but this is absolutely necessary, I think. “There is a number of smears going on in the papers. “We want to all leave people with more money in their pocket. We all know what is going on. That is the section I looked after. “This has been rebutted many times.

Tory leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has hit back at fresh claims that she supported gender self-identification when she was a government equalities ...

In the first televised debate on Friday, former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who also has responsibility for equality ...

"There is a number of smears going on in the papers. But Ms Mordaunt strongly challenged the claims. I managed that consultation. That is the section I looked after. "This has been rebutted many times. In the first televised debate, Ms Mourdant was accused of backing a push for self-ID. Meanwhile, Sir Iain Duncan Smith - who is backing Liz Truss in the leadership contest - has questioned Ms Mordaunt's record in government.

Penny Mordaunt has described accusations that she U-turned on her support for Gender Recognition Act (GRA) reform as "smears".

“However, this element of the process goes to the heart of whether we have a system that is essentially self-identification, or whether there are external checks in place… This would help safeguard vulnerable individuals, and would also provide a defence against potential vexatious applications.” Speaking to the BBC on Sunday (17 July), Mordaunt reiterated that she does think trans people should have to receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria before their gender can be legally recognised, and described accusations of a U-turn as “smears”.

Right-wingers appear not to be terribly keen on Penny Mordaunt. Toby Young read her book Greater: Britain After the Storm and didn't like what he found.

If you believe that trans people are in a struggle comparable to gay liberation, that they merit solidarity and that those who fail to extend it will be judged harshly by history, why would you abandon them on the cusp of attaining the highest possible office from which to help them? At her launch speech, she quipped: ‘I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said that every prime minister needs a Willie. A woman like me doesn't have one.’ All it took was a glimpse of No. 10 for Mordaunt to turn from Judith Butler into Julie Bindel. It is this transformation that casts the greatest doubt on Mordaunt as a leader, of the Conservative party or the country. Gender theory and self-identification are the epitome of progressivism, a retrograde and destructive ideology that has made great advances by gutting liberalism and wearing its skin. 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.Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. She said MPs ‘cringe’ at things their predecessors said about gays but challenged them: 'Would we have gone out of our way to send our support, empathy and understanding to gay people at the time?’ After all, she added: ‘The challenge for us today is exactly the same with trans people’.

The leadership frontrunner is refusing to say what cost of living help she will announce this Autumn, but wants Tory members to make her the next Prime ...

“There will need to be some decisions taken at a proper fiscal event this Autumn,” she said. The current plan is to send HS2 trains to Scotland - but on existing track. She added: “We’ve got to demonstrate our competence. That's the wrong place to do it. This contest is in danger of slipping into something else and I think that we have to run this contest as we would govern.” “I have said that we would do some targeted support now, but it's absolutely vital that we do this in a way that is sensible and recognises the very, very volatile situation.”

The Portsmouth MP is surfing a Tory revolt against the party's more established names.

“Because she’s not Rishi and she’s not Truss.” Such is the desperate and disorientated condition of the Tory party that could be enough. One of her supporters says the central challenge of the next few days will be “getting past all the black propaganda”. She has been variously rubbished as a blank piece of paper, a flip-flopper and a useless minister. Mr Sunak’s outriders are saying that this is no time to put “an apprentice” into Number 10 while Ms Truss’s under-strappers snipe that Ms Mordaunt would be a prime minister who needs fitting with “stabilisers”. “We’re not handing out any old job,” says one of the many senior Tories who are incredulous that she’s doing so well. It’s a cause for anxiety to those who think that three years of Boris Johnson is a warning to the Conservative party about any more experiments with politics as a branch of light entertainment. She suggests she would be a unifier, which will appeal to Tories sickened by the extreme levels of nastiness exhibited in a contest that makes Game of Thrones look bloodless. Her backers see in her the potential to revive the coalition of voters who secured victory for the Tories at the last election. Neither of her principal competitors can credibly criticise Ms Mordaunt for being contaminated by association with the Johnson premiership, because she wasn’t in his cabinet and they were. One shrewd senior Tory puts her surge down to “the rejection of the establishments”. The “Treasury establishment”, otherwise known as Rishi Sunak, is unpopular with many Tories because he has put up taxes. That adds up to a large constituency yearning for an insurgent to snatch the crown. Fascinating though it was, I felt that the lecture and practical demonstration on how to care for the penis and testicles in the field failed to appreciate that some of us attending had been issued with the incorrect kit.” The most unanticipated development in the race to be the next Tory leader is Ms Mordaunt’s leap from outsider to the bookies’ favourite to win. Launching her bid to be the next leader of her party, she responded to a question about her views on gender identity by saying: “Margaret Thatcher said every prime minister needs a Willie. A woman like me doesn’t have one.”

TORY leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt has said the question of Scottish independence is "settled" and she would never allow another…

"There is a number of smears going on in the papers. I’ve taken a different approach, I’m not completely ripping up everything we’re doing, I’m doing this in a sensible way." That is the section I looked after. Last years election in Scotland proved it is not a settled question. We all know what is going on. Democracy denying— Christina McKelvie (@ChristinaSNP) Toriesten a penny.

Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt both took to the BBC Sunday Show this morning. Tugendhat's appearance came straight after the chief of the defence staff ...

Tugendhat made much, as he always does, of the ‘clean start’ he would offer. She did, though, say that she would be prepared to borrow to fund day-to-day spending. Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt both took to the BBC Sunday Show this morning.