Penny Mordaunt ‘failed to fight for women’: Suella Braverman sparks feud over Bill, who aimed to swap word ‘woman’ for ‘pregnant person’
- Suella Braverman took aim at prime minister candidate Penny Mordaunt on women’s rights
- The Attorney General lost in this final round and backed Liz Truss
- She said Mordaunt wanted to put a pregnant woman on a bill instead of a woman
- Ms Braverman said maternity law has been amended following opposition from the House of Lords
Penny Mordaunt was accused last night of not standing up for women by eliminated leadership rival Suella Braverman†
Attorney General, Ms. Braverman, said Ms. Mordaunt was the minister in charge of a bill seeking to replace the word “woman” with “pregnant.”
She also maintained that she disagreed with Ms. Mordaunt’s previously stated position that a “trans woman is a woman’. She said Sky News: ‘Penny is a very good politician, I disagree with Penny on some important issues related to a specific issue, viz. the maternity law passed last year.
‘I must say that Hansard [official report of Parliamentary debates] and the record shows that Penny Mordaunt as Bill’s secretary — the minister responsible for passing that legislation — resisted and opposed the inclusion of the word “woman” and the word “mother” and only relented after unsustainable pressure from the House of Lords.
“I was quite disappointed with the way it was handled and the minister in charge I fear did not stand up for women and didn’t really reflect the views of many of our party about wanting women to be authentically represented on the face of the bill and in legislation.’
Conservative leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt addresses media and supporters at a press conference to launch her bid on Wednesday to become the next prime minister
Penny Mordaunt (2-L) is seen outside parliament as Suella Braverman was kicked out of the contest to become the next Conservative Party leader
Miss Mordaunt previously stated that trans women are women but has avoided repeating the controversial claim during the contest to replace Boris Johnson.
Yesterday, Nikki da Costa, a former No. 10 director of legislative affairs under ex-Prime Minister Theresa May and Mr Johnson, accused her of giving in to Tory party members on the issue.
She said, ‘We have a nearly complete 180 . seen [degree turn] from Penny. She needs to get clear and say how her views have changed. Otherwise it will look like it’s just for the leadership campaign and women will find that their concerns are quickly ignored when she becomes prime minister.’
International Trade Minister Miss Mordaunt also came under fire from a Tory leadership who argued over the same issue. It comes after rival campaigns accused her of backtracking on her previous stance on transgender issues after being branded a “woke warrior.”
Earlier this week, Ms. Mordaunt claimed she did not support sex self-identification under the Gender Recognition Act.
Miss da Costa said people were “surprised” by Miss Mordaunt’s apparent change in stance.
She added: ‘I was in [Theresa] May’s government when the self-identification legislation – reforming the gender recognition law – was being considered and Penny was the minister who continued the deliberations. I never had any idea about this.’ Meanwhile, Miss Mordaunt clashed with right-wing MPs on Wednesday.
She was challenged at a hustings hosted by the 1922 Committee of Backbench Tories over her handling of the Maternity Bill. As the bill passed through the House of Commons, Tory MPs led by Sir John Hayes tabled amendments to reinstate ‘mother’ and ‘wife’, but these were rejected by the government.
Later, the same amendments were reinstated in the House of Lords. At the hustings, Sir John, a supporter of Mrs Braverman, discouragingly challenged Miss Mor on the matter. Colleagues said he was “glowing” at her response, according to Sky News.
An MP told the broadcaster: ‘She said she only had one day to read the bill. Anyone who has been Bill’s secretary will tell you you have plenty of time to prepare.’