Penny Mordaunt

British minister Penny Mordaunt would win a runoff to become the next leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister if she makes it to the final two ...

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Second survey in 24 hours suggests Brexiteer trade minister way ahead of rivals.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. She has also highlighted how she repeatedly stood up for women’s rights as minister for women and equalities from 2018 to 2019. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

A new poll of Conservative party members has put Penny Mordaunt on track to win the Tory leadership contest.

Too early to tell.’ MPs have already started voting in the first ballot of the race to replace Mr Johnson, with Mr Sunak the first candidate to cast a ballot. While the former chancellor is currently a frontrunner in the contest and expected to clear the first ballot with ease, he performed poorly in the head-to-heads presented in the poll.

Penny Mordaunt has emerged as an early favourite for the top job, with many bookmakers putting her level with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

However, she was replaced by Ben Wallace when Mr Johnson took over as leader two months later. Ms Mordaunt is the only candidate so far promising to reverse the Treasury’s “stealth tax” of freezing income tax thresholds. Ms Mordaunt has recently been pushing for state-wide trade deals with the US and has been leading the work on joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc. She is a Royal Navy reservist, following in the military footsteps of her father. The 49-year-old is from Torquay in Devon. She is the daughter of a former paratrooper, and says she is named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Penelope. Before becoming an MP, Ms Mordaunt was head of youth for the Conservative Party under former Prime Minister John Major, and was head of broadcasting under William Hague. She also briefly worked as head of foreign press for George W Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000.

The trade minister launched her pitch to be the next prime minister by assuring Conservative MPs she is best placed to keep them their seats.

“Well, they’re very sensible people because I’m a threat to their campaign,” she said, but added that the only people she will take the fight to is the Opposition. She argued that having stood on the same platform as Mr Johnson and other Tories in the 2019 election “we have a mandate and a big majority”. “I’m the candidate that Labour fear the most – and they’re right to,” she told Conservatives and reporters closely crammed into the sweltering room. The long-term Brexit backer said the Government supply side reforms would yield a “Brexit dividend” on investment, infrastructure and innovation. Leadership contender Penny Mordaunt has told Conservative MPs fearful of losing their seats under Boris Johnson that she is the candidate “Labour fear the most”. But she insisted she is “very different” from her would-be predecessor but indicated she would not call an early general election to win her own mandate if she entered No 10.

Penny Mordaunt will believe momentum is with her - whereas Foreign Secretary Liz Truss should feel anxious, writes Robert Peston. | ITV National News.

So the question is whether he has enough backers signed up or likely to come over such that he can lend some of their votes to any candidate he would feel more confident of beating in the final run-off. You will notice I am making a bold assumption - which may not hold - that Sunak is very likely to get to the long run-off contest over the summer, since he needs only another 32 votes to reach the magic 120, which guarantees a spot in the last two. For those Boris Johnson loyalists who want Sunak beaten at all costs, one question is whether they transfer their loyalties from Truss to Mordaunt - especially since recent polling (for example by YouGov) shows that Sunak may struggle to beat Mordaunt in the final run-off when Tory party members make the important decision on which of the two top candidates will be party leader and prime minister.

All the eight UK PM candidates, who received the support of 20 MPs, will now compete in the first round of voting scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

"...as Prime Minister, I will continue to deliver on the opportunities of the Brexit," she said in a video post. In a video announcing his candidature, he said, "We need leadership that returns government to service of our economy, our people and our country. 8. Nadhim Zahawi: "NZ4PM" is his hashtag for his social media campaign. He also aims to "replicate Ireland’s ‘Celtic tiger’ with bold business tax cuts that unleash the growth that’s been missing from our economy for too long". "I'm putting myself forward in this leadership election because I want to tell the truth. He launched a campaign "#Ready4Rishi" on social media. "#PM4PM" is the social media hashtag her supporters have been using to show solidarity with her. The elections were announced after Boris Johnson announced his resignation as the prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party earlier this month. She also wrote about free speech and free markets. The winner will become the new Tory leader. She emerged winner in a survey published by ConservativeHome, that looked at how Conservative party members would vote for all the candidates in one-to-one contests, a report said. The new UK PM will be announced on September 5.

Sunak Wins First Round of Tory Contest to Succeed Johnson · Former chancellor gets 88 votes, Mordaunt second with 67 · Next ballot of Conservative MPs is ...

'Mordmentum' with little-known ex-defence secretary – who appears to be clear favourite of party members.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. She is also now the bookmakers’ favourite – and landed the support of Tory vice-chair Mike Penning, who quit the post in order to support her. Mr Mordaunt leapfrogged Liz Truss into second place, ahead of a second ballot today, and is also the overwhelming choice of the Tory grassroots who will pick the next leader, according to a bombshell poll.

Scramble is on for Tory hopefuls to pick up the votes of Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi, who have been eliminated.

That could all change with the TV debates on Friday and Sunday. With Braverman likely to be eliminated in tomorrow’s vote, the remaining five are set to participate. After the announcement, one ally of the Foreign Secretary described the results unenthusiastically as “solid”. She will have lost votes to Braverman and to Kemi Badenoch, who was only ten votes behind her. One ally of Sunak, the former chancellor, predicted that some survivors may fail to secure the requisite 30 votes tomorrow as MPs focus on the leaders.

Onetime Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt, is emerging as the biggest threat to former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak's campaign to lead the ...

- Opinion: Putin and the UFO Sightings You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. Seen as a long shot only days ago, she became the odds-on favorite Wednesday at betting houses in Britain after several polls showed her topping popularity polls with grass-roots Conservative members.

Sunak and Truss the other candidates who seem most likely to emerge and make it a three-horse race.

Mordaunt has been the star of the contest so far, emerging on top in two successive polls of party members and bringing a fresh quality to the race. But Mordaunt is liberal on social issues, and her rivals have sought to use her record of support for LGBT rights against her. Neither Badenoch nor Braverman is likely to overtake Truss, so the contest is heading towards a three-horse race.

Ex-chancellor and trade minister will face four other candidates in next round of voting by MPs.

We'll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Conservative Party UK news every morning. Penny Mordaunt on Wednesday discovered the perils of ...

Penny Mordaunt will succeed Boris Johnson as the next leader of the Tory party, an exclusive Conservative leadership election forecast suggests.

So far in the leadership race, Ms Mordaunt has performed well - gaining public declarations of support from Conservative colleagues to help her progress through the first phases of the race. Mr Zahawi, brought in by Boris Johnson after Mr Sunak’s resignation, got 25 and Mr Hunt only 18. The forecast predicts that the trade minister will finish in first place, with 133 MP votes.

She clashed with right-wing Conservative MPs at a major hustings event attended by the six candidates left in the contest after the first round of voting.

At the 1922's hustings Sir John, a leading supporter of Ms Braverman, challenged Ms Mordaunt on the issue and was later said by colleagues to be "incandescent" at her reply. Ms Braverman is now one of Ms Mordaunt's leadership rivals and has already criticised her over a move to replace "woman" with "pregnant person" in the 2021 legislation. And she was challenged at a hustings staged by the 1922 Committee over her handling of a bill to allow Attorney General Suella Braverman to take maternity leave last year.

The little-known former defence secretary was defeated by Rishi Sunak in the first leadership ballot – by 88 votes to 67 – but is the candidate with momentum ...

Mr Tugendhat, who will now hope to gather up Mr Hunt’s votes, described it as “a fantastic result”, but is facing an uphill task to stay in the race beyond yesterday’s second ballot. But all three are thought to have little chance in the ballots to come, which are likely to conclude with a choice of Mr Sunak vs Ms Mordaunt or Mr Sunak vs Ms Truss – or even Ms Mordaunt vs Ms Truss. Ms Mordaunt leapfrogged Liz Truss into second place, ahead of a second ballot yesterday, and is also the overwhelming choice of the Tory grassroots who will pick the next leader, according to a bombshell poll.

Jeremy Hunt and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi were both eliminated in the first round of voting among Tory MPs, with former chancellor Rishi Sunak topping the ballot ...

He said: “We will cut taxes and we will do it responsibly. That’s my economic approach. Around 160,000 Tory members will then choose the next party leader and prime minister. Elsewhere, former army officer Tom Tugendhat, who has pledged to boost defence spending, took a thinly-veiled swipe at Mr Sunak’s refusal to set “arbitrary targets” in this area, telling reporters: “We will never put the safety of our country in doubt because of bean counters and spreadsheets. The naval reservist and former defence secretary pledged to return to traditional Conservative values of “low tax, small state and personal responsibility”. Mr Rees-Mogg argued that the Foreign Secretary is “fiscally on the right side of the argument”, unlike Mr Sunak. The minister told Sky News that Ms Truss “opposed the endless tax rises of the former chancellor, which I think have been economically damaging, I also was opposed to (them) in Cabinet”. Ms Mordaunt officially launched her campaign yesterday by telling colleagues who had been fearful of losing their seats under Mr Johnson’s leadership that she is their “best shot” at winning the next election. Ms Dorries, the Culture Secretary, accused the former chancellor’s campaign of deploying “dirty tricks” and backed Ms Truss as the Brexiteers’ candidate. Scottish Tory MP John Lamont, who is backing Ms Mordaunt, said the result of the first round of voting was “promising”. “Everyone in our great country should be born with the same opportunities and be able to know that the town they are born in has opportunity”. Mr Hunt, who failed to get the 30 votes required to get to the next stage, has held the offices of health and foreign secretary and lost to Mr Johnson in the 2019 leadership race.

'I didn't even know where she was,' says ex-negotiator in scathing attack on favourite's Brexit credentials.

Ms Truss has appealed to Brexiteers by claiming she was a “reluctant Remainer” at the 2016 Brexit referendum. “All three of those candidates … are saying very interesting things, things that the country needs to hear. ERG chair Mark Francois is backing Ms Truss, while several other leading figures in the group opt for Ms Braverman. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The right-wing Tory peer added: “She wasn’t always visible. Sometimes I didn’t even know where she was.

Tory members predict trade minister will rise to top as former chancellor fails to clinch a high percentage of first round votes.

Latest updates: foreign secretary says she is 'ready to be prime minister on day one' as another round of voting is due to start.

He was also reluctant to discuss what role Gavin Williamson was playing on his campaign, and, when asked if Williamson was a good education secretary, he sidestepped the question. I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. But now the main threat is coming from Penny Mordaunt, and Truss will take a swipe at her by implying she does not have the experience to be PM from day one. I felt she did not master the detail that was necessary in the negotiations last year. Whenever I have needed to step in to support people I have and furlough is a fantastic example of that. (Mordaunt has served in cabinet, but as international development secretary, one of the most junior jobs, for about a year and a half, and as defence secretary for less than three months.) Sunak, the former chancellor and Tory leadership candidate, said that “of course” he intended to stay in the UK if he did not become prime minister. She wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the European Union when that was necessary. Sunak played down claims that Sir Gavin Williamson, the former Tory chief whip and former education secretary, is playing a major role in his campaign. Truss has the support of Boris Johnson loyalists in the party and in the media (especially the Daily Mail), but it feels as if all the candidates in this contest can’t yet work out whether they are supposed to be praising Johnson and his legacy, or rubbishing him. That claim is half justified by recent polling from Ipsos Mori, which shows more people think he is likely to make a good PM than they think Keir Starmer is, or any of the other Tory leadership candidates are. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is officially launching her campaign for the Conservative party leadership this morning but within the last 24 hours she has probably been revising her script quite considerably.

Former Brexit minister and other Liz Truss allies hit out at Mordaunt after she came second in first ballot.

“Even if the style is different, the substance will not be very different.” Mordaunt, who had little interaction with the EU during her ministerial career, is not well known in Brussels. Those who have followed her career are not enthused about her moving to No 10. “I’m afraid this became such a problem that after six months I had to ask the PM to move her on and find somebody else to support me. In an interview with the Spectator she suggested tax cuts could be paid for through extra borrowing. She wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the EU when that was necessary and I’m afraid she wasn’t fully accountable or always visible. “I’m sorry to say this, she did not master the necessary detail in the negotiations last year.