Daily Mail

Penny power! Mordaunt is our first female Defence Secretary

- By Daniel Martin Policy Editor

TORY leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt was last night installed as the first ever female Secretary of State for Defence.

She was promoted from her former job as Internatio­nal Developmen­t Secretary – where she was in charge of Britain’s multi-billion-pound aid budget.

A Royal Naval Reservist and the daughter of a paratroope­r, Miss Mordaunt has previously worked in the Ministry of Defence as minister for the Armed Forces.

As a prominent Brexiteer she is tipped by some as a future Tory leader. Miss Mordaunt, 46, was first elected as MP for Portsmouth North, which has a large service population, in 2010. She garnered widespread public attention after appearing on the ITV diving reality show Splash! in 2014. She donated her £10,000 appearance fee to local and military charities.

Soon afterwards she became only the second woman to propose the Loyal Address after the Queen’s Speech. Within months Miss Mordaunt was given her first ministeria­l role by David Cameron, as a junior local government minister. After the 2015 election she was promoted to minister of state for the armed forces – the first woman to hold that post.

During the EU referendum campaign in 2016, she supported Leave and stoked controvers­y when she falsely claimed on TV that Turkey was about to join the EU. Mr

?? ?? Cameron had to contradict her just an hour later. Mrs May elevated her to Cabinet in 2017 as Internatio­nal Developmen­t Secretary, where her main challenge was dealing with the Oxfam sex scandal fallout. Later she added the job of women and equalities minister to her role. She is known to be unhappy with elements of the withdrawal agreement and was expected to follow colleagues such as Boris Johnson in resigning from Cabinet. She stuck with the deal – although she does not speak about it in glowing terms. Miss Mordaunt said: ‘I’m delighted to be back at the Ministry of Defence. It is an honour and privilege to work with the best Armed Forces and defence civilians in the world.’ Delighted: Penny Mordaunt
Cameron had to contradict her just an hour later. Mrs May elevated her to Cabinet in 2017 as Internatio­nal Developmen­t Secretary, where her main challenge was dealing with the Oxfam sex scandal fallout. Later she added the job of women and equalities minister to her role. She is known to be unhappy with elements of the withdrawal agreement and was expected to follow colleagues such as Boris Johnson in resigning from Cabinet. She stuck with the deal – although she does not speak about it in glowing terms. Miss Mordaunt said: ‘I’m delighted to be back at the Ministry of Defence. It is an honour and privilege to work with the best Armed Forces and defence civilians in the world.’ Delighted: Penny Mordaunt

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