Bloodied in battle: Dog in ‘stealth mode’ takes a bite out of candidate on the campaign trail
A POLITICIAN has told how she was left with ‘blood spewing everywhere’ after she was bitten by a dog ‘in stealth mode’.
Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt secured a 15,780 majority in the safe seat, with Labour’s Amanda Martin winning 12,392 votes on a 64.4 per cent turnout.
But her victory was not without drama as Ms Mordaunt revealed she was attacked by a canine while handing out the last batch of leaflets of her campaign.
The wound was so deep it ‘exposed the nerve’ on the middle finger of Ms Mordaunt’s right hand, forcing her to seek emergency treatment.
Despite the injury, the 46-year-old was out in Hilsea the next day trying to persuade voters to back her ahead of Thursday’s polls.
Ms Mordaunt, whose finger is bandaged up, told The News: ‘This is the second time I’ve been bitten by a dog in 17 years and it hurt.
‘The dog was in stealth mode behind a letterbox. I was delivering my last batch of leaflets and I could see the finishing line.
‘I attempted to carry on but it was very bad. There was a pharmacy at the bottom of the road and I staggered in there with enormous amounts of blood spewing everywhere.
‘They patched me up initially then I went to A&E and had a tetanus jab.’
It is the second time Ms Mordaunt has arrived at an election count sporting an injury.
She turned up to Portsmouth Guildhall for 2017’s results on crutches following an operation on her ankle.
‘But I’m still afloat and returning fire,’ the Royal Navy reservist joked. ‘It hasn’t slowed me down.’
Ms Mordaunt’s determination to carry on despite her injury has inspired her party, with city Tories describing her as a ‘real trouper’.
Councillor Rob New, who has been campaigning for Ms Mordaunt, said: ‘It’s not an election unless somebody suffers an injury. Unfortunately this year it was Penny. She is such a trouper. She had to go straight off to London for a fundraiser and then drive back to Pompey and be out with us on the Hilsea bridge the next morning.
‘Penny is the most tenacious person I know. She is very good-spirited.’
Cllr New has also been bitten by a dog during his time on the local election campaign trail in Cosham in 2014.
The wound permanently damaged one of his fingers. Speaking of the incident, Cllr New said: ‘The teeth literally went through my finger, I can’t move them properly because of it.’
Ms Mordaunt, who retained her seat in Portsmouth North, said she was going to approach the owners of the dog that bit her.
She added: ‘In all seriousness, a lot of our activists do get hurt (like this). When it’s happened to other people I always go round because quite often the owners don’t realise their dog does this when they go out.’