Penny Mordaunt Quotes

Penelope Mary Mordaunt is a British politician who serves as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North since May 2010.

She was a junior minister under Boris Johnson, having previously served in Theresa May's cabinet from 2017 to 2019. She ran twice for the Conservative party leadership in July–September and October 2022, losing to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak respectively.

Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, before working in the public relations industry. She held roles under Conservative 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 to the senior Cabinet position 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 office 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 and Lord President of the Council 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 and Lord President, giving her a starring role at the coronation.

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✵ 4. March 1973