Speaking of why she wanted to be the next prime minister, Penny Mordaunt announced her prime ministerial campaign by greeting Margaret Thatcher’s “resolve”. She told a story of when she was nine years old and saw the Falklands Task Force sail from Portsmouth the moment she knew she wanted to be Prime Minister, and praised the “duty, service and sacrifice” of her fellow Brits. Her speech comes as Conservative MPs go to the polls to narrow down the party’s eight candidates for leader to two.
Ms Mordaunt said: “For me it was when I was nine years old and I stood on the hot walls in Portsmouth watching the Falklands task force leave Portsmouth harbour.
“Now, I didn’t know much about that scene when I was nine, but when I witnessed it, as well as Thatcher’s determination at the time, I knew my country stood up to bullies.
“And I knew that was important, important enough for some of those warships and the fathers of my classmates not to return home.
“I had seen duty and service and sacrifice for something greater than ourselves and it is why people ask me today about Britain and our role in the world. I would say we don’t need a new role in the world .”
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