Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mordaunt

Penny Mary Mordaunt is a British Conservative Party politician. She has served as Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North since 2010. Mordaunt previously served in Theresa May’s Cabinet as International Development Secretary from 2017 to 2019 and Defence Secretary in 2019. She is the only female MP who is a Royal Naval Reservist.

About Penny Mordaunt in brief

Summary Penny MordauntPenny Mary Mordaunt is a British Conservative Party politician. She has served as Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North since 2010. Mordaunt previously served in Theresa May’s Cabinet as International Development Secretary from 2017 to 2019 and Defence Secretary in 2019. She is currently the only female MP who is a Royal Naval Reservist. Through her mother, Jennifer, she is a relative of Philip Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dame Angela Lansbury is her grandmother’s cousin. She was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic School Academy, Waterlooville, Hampshire and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School. She worked as a magician’s assistant to Portsmouth magician Will Ayling, who was once president of The Magic Circle. In November 2003 Mordaunt was selected as Conservative candidate to contest Portsmouth North in the 2005 general election.

She attained a 5. 5% swing towards the Conservatives but lost to Labour candidate Sarah McCarthy-Fry by 1,139 votes. In January 2006 she won the seat with an 8. 6% swing from Labour giving her a 7,289 majority. After the election, she was re-elected at the 2015 and 2017 general elections. She continued to be a member of the Public Bill Committee for the Defence Reform Act 2014. When receiving Spectator magazine’s Parliamentarian of the Year award in November 2014, Mordaunt said that she had delivered a speech on poultry welfare so as to use the word \”cock\”, as a forfeit for a misdemeanour. In 2014, she became only the second woman in Elizabeth II’s reign to propose the reign of Elizabeth II to the Queen in a speech before the Easter recess. Following her comments she was accused by Labour MP Kate Hoey of trivialising parliament.