Penny Mordaunt

Early life and education

Penelope Mordaunt was born on 4 March 1973 in Torquay, Devon. Her father, John Mordaunt, was a former paratrooper who retrained as a teacher and later became a youth worker. Her mother, Jennifer (née Snowden), was a special education teacher. Through her mother she is a relative of Philip Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The actress Angela Lansbury was her grandmother's cousin, making her distantly related to former Labour leader George Lansbury and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mordaunt has a twin brother, James, and a younger brother, Edward. She was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic School in Waterlooville and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School. When she was 15, her mother died of breast cancer, and she became her younger brother Edward's primary caregiver.

The following year her father was diagnosed with cancer but recovered. 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. She read philosophy at the University of Reading, graduating in 1995 with upper second class honours, and served as president of the Reading University Students' Union. Mordaunt has attributed her interest in politics to her experiences working in hospitals and orphanages in Romania after the 1989 revolution.

Ministerial career

Mordaunt was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Decentralisation at the Department for Communities and Local Government by David Cameron in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle. During her tenure, she was accused by the Fire Brigades Union of misleading MPs over assurances given to firefighters regarding their pensions if they failed fitness tests, a dispute that led to strike action. After the 2015 general election, Cameron promoted her to Minister of State for the Armed Forces, the first woman to hold the post.

Following Theresa May's appointment as prime minister, Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health. In 2017, after Priti Patel's resignation, 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 by 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.

Conservative leadership bids

Following Boris Johnson's announcement in July 2022 that he would resign as Conservative leader and prime minister, Mordaunt entered the leadership contest. She secured the necessary 20 nominations and reached the fifth round of voting before being eliminated on 20 July 2022. She subsequently endorsed Liz Truss. After Truss became prime minister, Mordaunt was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council.

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 Rishi Sunak to become Conservative leader and prime minister unopposed. Sunak retained Mordaunt in his cabinet, continuing as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President, giving her a notable role at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.

Views and activities

Mordaunt supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership. In 2014, Mordaunt proposed the Loyal Address in reply to the Queen's Speech from the throne. At The Spectator's Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in November 2014, she said she had delivered a speech in the House of Commons in 2013 on poultry welfare so as to use the word 'cock' as a forfeit during Naval Reserve training, using the word six times and 'lay' or 'laid' five times. Labour MP Kate Hoey accused her of trivialising parliament.