Penny Mordaunt provoked Tories on Wednesday when she came out second in the race for the Conservative Party† The 49-year-old Secretary of State for Trade Policy received the support of 67 MPs in the first vote. Only the former chancellor Rishi Sunak received more votes, with 88, while Foreign Minister Liz Truss finished third with 50. Of the eight Tory candidates, Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman and Tom Tugendhat also made it to the second round, while Nadhim Zahawi and Jeremy Hunt were turned off.
Ms Mordaunt has been touted as a “dark horse” contender for Tory leader after Boris Johnson stepped down as prime minister last Thursday.
She is said to be a favorite with Tory supporters, as she promised to bring the party back to its roots with her vision of “low tax, small state, personal responsibility”.
The Tory hopeful is also on track to beat Sunak if she makes it to the last two, according to a quick YouGov poll of 879 conservative members conducted for The Times and Sky News.
Although Ms Mordaunt is relatively unknown to the British public, she gave a fascinating glimpse into her personality in her 2020 book Greater: Britain After the Storm, which she co-wrote with Chris Lewis.
The minister s**t-faced her view of the British public on drunken evenings as she discussed the need for political reform in post-Brexit Britain and the ingenuity of the British people.
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In a section on British people losing control, she wrote: “Culture wars are on the rise. The problems may change from place to place, but not the temperature. But really, anger doesn’t sit well with Brits.”
She continued: “There is one notable exception. Brits only really lose control [sic] if they have been good on the sauce.
“This phenomenon is called ‘Saturday Night’. It’s a British ritual that takes place in most market towns and some towns.”
She added: “Resulting in getting mutual death, trolled, s**t-faced, sloshing, plastered, tanked, wasted, wa**ered, hammered, Badered (after the legless flying ace) and battered.
“Actually, you can play this game yourself. Basically every verb, every past participle.”
The minister’s lighthearted view on the separation of Great Britain from Brussels is accompanied by serious proposals.
In the book, she sets out her case for political reform over what she believes is a dent in public confidence following a spate of political scandals.
In recent days, during her campaign for Tory leadership, she has made similar calls to restore public confidence by saying that the government must deliver on its promises.
She told MPs on Wednesday: “We have a manifesto to deliver, and standards and confidence to restore.”
She also claimed her party had lost its “sense of self” but vowed to restore the mandate the Tories won under Johnson in 2019.
Greater: Britain After the Storm is written by Penny Mordaunt and Chris Lewis and published by Biteback Publishing in 2020. It is available here†