Penny Mordaunt launched its campaign for the Conservative Party leadership with the statement ‘I am the candidate who’ labor should be most afraid” – and the latest polls confirm this.
The Commerce Secretary was seen as one of the frontrunners in the race and was cheered on by supporters at Westminster’s Cinnamon Club today.
The MP for Portsmouth North told colleagues she is their ‘best chance’ of winning the next election, and vowed to return to old Tory values and policies.
Her speech was praised on Twitter for being “by far the most impressive: calm, authoritative, giving the impression of a precise policy agenda,” but some of her statements still raised eyebrows.
‘I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said every Prime Minister needs a Willie,’ said Mrs Mordaunt. “A woman like me has none.”
Her comment comes after LGBTQ+ activists accused her of “throwing transgender people under the bus” just hours before she launched her campaign.
As speculation about her possible bid mounted, Ms Mordaunt wrote in a thread on Twitter: “I’m a woman biologically. If I have a hysterectomy or mastectomy, I’m still a woman. And I am legally a woman.
“Some people who are born male and who have gone through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That doesn’t mean they’re biological women like me.’
Shortly after her comment, Jayne Ozanne, an anti-conversion therapy campaigner who has supported Ms. Mordaunt’s campaign, told PinkNews that she hopes to speak to her personally about her comments.
“I am really shocked by the way transgender people are being used as political football in this leadership race,” said Ms. Ozanne.
In her speech today, Ms Mordaunt refused to describe Boris Johnson as a good prime minister, instead thanking him for delivering the Brexit, which she voted for.
But the politician was not among the dozen Tories who resigned last week over his leadership.
The 49-year-old insisted she is “very different” from her future predecessor, but indicated she would not call an early general election to win her own mandate if she came in at number 10.
Ms Mordaunt said voters are tired of the government breaking through, making unfulfilled promises and divisive.
“Lately, our party has lost its self-esteem,” she emphasized. “If I can compare it to the Glastonbury crowd when Paul McCartney played his set, we were indulging in all those new tunes, but what we really wanted was the old stuff we all knew the words to.
“Low taxes, small state, personal responsibility – we have to get back to that because we face some really serious challenges.”
The naval reservist and former defense secretary pledged to return the party to its traditional conservative values of “low taxes, small state and personal responsibility.”
Ms Mordaunt also said she is sticking to the Conservative manifesto’s commitment to meet NATO’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP and increase it by 0.5% above inflation each year.
next Rishi Sunak† Liz TrussTom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Jeremy Hunt, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi, her name came up on the leadership vote last night.
While Mr Sunak appeared to be the first favorite, some political commentators believe that Ms Mordaunt is the only one “fresh enough” to beat him.
A new YouGov snap poll of members of the Conservative party – which was taken down yesterday after the candidates’ confirmation – shows she is the new favorite for leader among the members.
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