Penny Mordaunt

Mordaunt was born on 4 March 1973 in Torquay, Devon. The daughter of a former paratrooper, one of twins, she was named after the Arethusa-class cruiser HMS Penelope.[10] Her father, who had been born in Hilsea Barracks, had left the Parachute Regiment and trained as a teacher. Mordaunt has two brothers: James and a younger brother, Edward.[11] Through her mother, Jennifer (née Snowden),[12] she is a relative of Philip Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dame Angela Lansbury is her grandmother's cousin.[13][14] Mordaunt was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic School Academy, Waterlooville, Hampshire and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School.[15]

When Mordaunt was 15 her mother died of breast cancer. Mordaunt's twin brother left school, so she became Edward's prime caregiver. The following year her father was diagnosed with cancer, from which he recovered. To pay her way through sixth-form college, Mordaunt became a magician's assistant to Portsmouth magician Will Ayling, who was once president of The Magic Circle.[16]

She has attributed her interest in politics to her experiences working in hospitals and orphanages of Romania in her gap year, whilst that country was in the aftermath of the 1989 revolution.[17]

Mordaunt read Philosophy at the University of Reading, graduating in 1995. She was the first member of her family to attend university.[11]

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.[11] She then worked as a communications specialist for the Freight Transport Association before, in 2000, working briefly as Head of Foreign Press for George W. Bush's presidential campaign.[18][19] She was director of communications for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 2001 to 2003, before leaving to set up a new Anglo-American website called 'virtualconservatives'.[20][11] She worked for the Bush campaign again in 2004.[21] She was a director at the Community Fund – which merged administratively with the New Opportunities Fund to create the Big Lottery Fund – and, in 2006, became one of six Directors at charity Diabetes UK.[22][23]

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.[24] A critic of women-only shortlists,[25][26] Mordaunt worked after the 2005 election as chief of staff for David Willetts' aborted leadership campaign.[27]

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 and 2017 general elections.

After her election, she was a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014.[28] She is a supporter of homeopathy, having signed an early day motion in support of its continued funding on the National Health Service.[29]

When receiving The Spectator magazine's Parliamentarian of the Year award 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 became only the second woman in Elizabeth II's reign (the first having been Lady Tweedsmuir in 1957) to propose the loyal address in reply to the Queen's speech from the throne and made reference to Tweedsmuir's comments about wanting more female involvement in Parliament.[33][34]

In 2014, Mordaunt appeared on reality television programme Splash!. Although some criticised the media appearance, questioning whether her focus should instead have been on her constituency work, Mordaunt stated that the response was overwhelmingly positive and defended her appearance,[35] 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, the rest to four Armed Services charities.

In the EU membership referendum, Mordaunt supported the leave, or Brexit, option.[36][37][38]

In June 2020, in response to vandalism of war memorials, Mourdant 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, Mourdant said that Overseas Development Assistance should instead be spent on a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia[40].

Mordaunt visiting the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh on 25 November 2017

Mordaunt was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on 9 November 2017, after Priti Patel resigned over a series of apparently secret and unauthorised meetings she had with Israeli politicians while on holiday.[41]

In February 2018, an investigation by the Times newspaper revealed allegations of misconduct by Oxfam staff in operating in Haiti, in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Mordaunt argued that Oxfam, which 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 believed that there were paedophiles "targeting" the charity sector in order to carry out predatory activities.[42]

She became Minister for Women and Equalities in April 2018, replacing Amber Rudd, who had resigned following the Windrush scandal.[43] In the House of Commons she has 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).[44]

On 1 May 2019, Mordaunt was appointed as the first ever female Defence Secretary following the dismissal of Gavin Williamson after an inquiry into a leak over a plan to allow Huawei limited access in connection with the UK's 5G network.[45] On 24 July 2019, Mordaunt left the Ministry of Defence and also as the Minister for Women and Equalities, announcing her departure via Twitter.[46]

In February 2020, Mourdant joined the Cabinet Office as the Paymaster General, succeeding Oliver Dowden.[47]

She met and married Paul Murray in 1999 when they were both mature students at Reading University but this ended in divorce the following year.[48] She was later in a long-term relationship with Ian Lyon, a classical singer.[49]

Mordaunt is a Royal Naval Reservist, serving as an acting sub-lieutenant, at HMS King Alfred on Whale Island.[50][51]

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the British Astronomical Association and she is involved in many charities active in the Portsmouth area, including Southsea Greenhouse, Hilsea Lido, The Patey Centre, and Wymering Manor.[52]

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• Official website
• Penny Mordaunt at the Conservative Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou