Penny Mordaunt: A very quick guide to the rising star who might be PM

You mightiness not cognize astir Penny Mordaunt if you don't usually travel politics. Here's a speedy recap of the MP's caller rise.

Despite starting arsenic a lesser-known candidate, she made it to the last 3 earlier losing retired to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. She campaigned powerfully for Brexit, but experts accidental she's trying to entreaty to everyone successful a precise divided party.

They assistance organise the process by which MPs tin inquire questions and statement issues successful the House of Commons. At 1 constituent she had to explicate Truss was not "hiding nether a desk", erstwhile the premier curate didn't crook up to reply questions.

Some objected to her statements of enactment for trans rights portion equalities minister. She aboriginal rowed backmost connected them, saying "if you've been successful the Royal Navy, and you person competed physically against men, you recognize the biologic quality betwixt men and women".

Former Brexit curate Lord Frost said that erstwhile she was his lawman successful negotiations, "sometimes I didn't adjacent cognize wherever she was".

She is simply a navy reservist and was appointed the UK's first-ever pistillate defence caput by Theresa May - earlier being removed by Boris Johnson. Her begetter was a paratrooper and she is named aft the battleship HMS Penelope.

Other erstwhile jobs see moving successful orphanages successful Romania during her spread year. In 2014, portion an MP, she appeared connected ITV's Splash!, wherever she was mentored connected diving by Tom Daley.

Also successful 2014, she gave a code connected "poultry welfare" aft a situation by her navy grooming officers. She aboriginal explained she had to "say a peculiar word, the abbreviation of cockerel, respective times during a code connected the floor".