She used to be a magician’s assistant ... but can Mordaunt make row over her wokery disappear?
YEARS before she ventured on to the political stage, Penny Mordaunt trod the boards as a magician’s assistant. Does the Tory leadership hopeful remember any of the tricks taught to her as a teenager by her former employer, legendary conjurer Will Ayling – the author of such handy volumes as The Art Of Illusion and Knowing The Ropes?
This week, as she threw her hat into the ring in the race for the Conservative leadership, the 49-year- old MP for Portsmouth North certainly appeared to be tying herself in knots over the issue of trans rights.
For while the Trade Minister has emerged as a favourite to become Britain’s next prime minister, her detractors are concerned she is simply too ‘woke’ to appeal to the old school party faithful, pointing the finger at previous comments she made that ‘trans men are men and trans women are women’.
A senior Tory source told the Daily Mail last night that Mordaunt’s stance in 2018 when she was Minister for Women and Equalities was ‘of concern’ because her earlier comments had been repeated ‘mantra like’ by trans activists while those who dared to disagree, including author J K Rowling and feminist activist Julie Bindel, have been vilified online.
He added that ‘whether through instinct or genuine conviction,’ it was an issue where ‘Penny Mordaunt has gone badly wrong’.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Mordaunt hit back via Twitter at those who ‘want to damage my reputation for whatever reason’, insisting that she had ‘fought for women’s rights all my life’.
She pointed out she had ‘changed maternity legislation that was drafted in gender neutral language’, swapping the phrase ‘pregnant people’ for ‘pregnant mothers’ and ‘defended free speech on these issues’.
In a determined bid to clarify her position further, she added: ‘I am biologically a woman. If I have a hysterectomy or a mastectomy, I am still a woman. And I am legally a woman. Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female. That does not mean they are biological women, like me.’
As if that wasn’t knotty enough, Mordaunt’s version of events has come under fire from some sources in Whitehall who insist that she fiercely resisted the change in wording from ‘people’ to ‘mothers’ in a bid not to offend the trans lobby and only ‘caved-in’ under pressure.
One Senior Whitehall source was reported to have said: ‘The way she’s trying to rewrite history to suit her is despicable.’
Mordaunt, however, is standing firm. Hardly surprising, perhaps, given she is the daughter of a former paratrooper and named after the Leander- class frigate HMS Penelope – although her latest comments risk putting her at odds with her twin brother James.
A gay activist and self-proclaimed ‘trans ally’, while he has been supportive of his sister, he’s no fan of the Tory party. Earlier this year, the Virgin Atlantic steward and avid body builder described it as ‘homophobic, transphobic’ as well as ‘ complicit in antiLGBT bigotry’.
And posting on Twitter yesterday, where he has 50,000 followers, he wrote: ‘ Trans rights are human rights – no ifs, no buts. LGBTQI+ rights are being eroded on a daily basis in the UK right now.’
But as a former Royal Naval reservist and now an honorary Royal Naval Commander, Mordaunt knows better than most how to weather all kinds of storms.
The MP of 12 years tweeted yesterday: ‘Some want to damage my reputation for whatever reason. They want to depict me as “woke”. I was elected by the no-nonsense, down-to-earth people of Portsmouth North. I refer you to their judgment.’
Born in Torquay, Devon, in 1973, Mordaunt moved to the Hampshire naval port city as a child. She was educated to A-level at a local comprehensive Oaklands Roman Catholic School Academy in Waterlooville. Her childhood was marred by heartache; her special needs teacher mother died of breast cancer when she was just 15. She took on much of the responsibility for caring for her youngest brother Edward, five years her junior.
After spending a gap year working in Romanian hospitals and orphanages and at a local factory, she was the first in her family to get a degree, studying philosophy at the University of Reading where she became president of the student’s union.
After graduating in 1995, she embarked on a career in public relations, working for the Big Lottery Fund and Diabetes UK as well as becoming head of foreign press for George W Bush’s presidential campaign before forging her reputation within the Tory party.
MORDAUNT’S lack of elitist baggage is regarded by many as her greatest asset. Sticking to a nautical theme as she launched her ‘PM4PM’ bid to become leader with a slick and highly patriotic video at the weekend, she stated: ‘It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.’
Brexiteer Mordaunt’s high-flying political career saw her become the first woman to fill the position of Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 2015. The following year she was made Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work. In 2017, she entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development and subsequently became the first female Secretary of State for Defence.
In 2014, she hit the headlines after revealing she had said ‘c***’ in a Commons speech several times as part of a dare with her Navy colleagues. The same year, the woman named 2011’s ‘sexiest female MP’ appeared in Tom Daley’s Saturday night diving show Splash!, donating her £10,000 appearance fee to the renovation of her local lido and to Armed Forces charities. She has since moaned about newspapers using photographs of her in her swimming costume, saying: ‘I’m used to being patronised and misrepresented.’
Back when her magician boss was sawing her in half, Mordaunt was always able by the end of each jaw-dropping performance to reappear miraculously in one piece.
Whether or not she still has the magic touch remains to be seen, but if the past is anything to go by, she’ll certainly put up a fight.