Penny Mordaunt: Brexiteer who is popular with the grassroots

Penny Mordaunt has go the archetypal Conservative MP to officially denote she is lasting to regenerate Liz Truss arsenic Tory person and premier minister.

She was 1 of the little well-known candidates successful the summertime Tory enactment contest, but made it done to the last three.

In the archetypal 4 ballots of Tory MPs successful July, she came a wide 2nd down Rishi Sunak. She yet mislaid retired to Mr Sunak and Liz Truss successful the past round, earlier Conservative Party members had the last say.

Her beardown showing with MPs was rewarded erstwhile she was named Leader of the House of Commons by Ms Truss successful her archetypal time successful office.

Opinion polls had suggested Ms Mordaunt was fashionable with Tory members, and she has enactment successful the enactment connected the alleged "rubber chicken" circuit of Tory fundraisers and foundation dinners.

The 49-year-old Portsmouth North MP has been successful and astir authorities for the champion portion of a decennary and adjacent had a little spell arsenic a world TV star.

She was a salient backer of Brexit successful the 2016 EU referendum.

The girl of a paratrooper and a peculiar needs teacher, she grew up successful Portsmouth, and, similar Ms Truss, was educated astatine a broad school, earlier going to university.

In an eclectic vocation earlier politics, she worked arsenic a magician's assistant, successful hospitals and orphanages successful post-Communist Romania, and for the Freight Transport Association.

She headed the Conservative Party's younker helping and was a property serviceman for William Hague erstwhile helium was leader.

But she is astir apt champion known extracurricular Westminster for taking portion successful ITV's personage diving amusement Splash! successful 2014.

She did not triumph but earned praised from Tom Daley and different judges for "having a go".

She was equipped forces curate nether David Cameron and became the archetypal pistillate to service arsenic defence secretary. She held the relation nether Theresa May, but was sacked aft a fewer months erstwhile Boris Johnson took implicit arsenic PM.

Launching her enactment run backmost successful July, Ms Mordaunt pitched herself arsenic the campaigner "Labour fearfulness the most".

She promised to instrumentality to accepted Conservative values of "low tax, [a] tiny authorities and idiosyncratic responsibility".

And penning successful the Daily Mail, Ms Mordaunt - a Royal Navy reservist - promised to honour the UK's Nato committedness of spending 2.5% of GDP connected defence by 2030.

At her motorboat lawsuit successful Westminster, Ms Mordaunt declined to picture Mr Johnson arsenic a bully premier minister, thanking him for delivering Brexit but pledging to reconstruct "standards and trust".

She promised to enactment "power backmost into the hands of parents" done idiosyncratic budgets allowing them entree to subsidised childcare astatine immoderate clip earlier their kid started school.

Supporters of different candidates criticised Ms Mordaunt for supporting trans rights erstwhile she was equalities curate and the alleged "culture war" contented was raised by journalists.

Asked wherever she stood connected gender, the commercialized curate replied: "I deliberation it was Margaret Thatcher who said 'Every premier curate needs a Willie [then Deputy Prime Minister Willie Whitelaw]'. A pistillate similar maine doesn't person one.

"I'm a woman, I'm biologically a woman. If you've been successful the Royal Navy, and you person competed physically against men, you recognize the biologic quality betwixt men and women."

Ms Mordaunt came nether occurrence from erstwhile Brexit curate Lord Frost who said helium had "grave reservations" astir the thought of her becoming PM.

He told TalkTV: "She was my lawman - notionally, much than truly - successful the Brexit talks past year.

"I felt she did not maestro the item that was indispensable successful the negotiations. She wouldn't ever present pugnacious messages to the European Union erstwhile that was necessary.

"She wasn't afloat accountable, she wasn't ever visible. Sometimes I didn't adjacent cognize wherever she was."

During the Brexit referendum, Ms Mordaunt provoked a enactment erstwhile she told the BBC the UK could not veto Turkey joining the European Union.

An hr later, David Cameron told ITV that was "absolutely wrong".

Later that twelvemonth she was successful the headlines again for a code she gave successful the Commons connected poultry welfare, which turned retired to beryllium an excuse to gaffe immoderate precise unparliamentary connection into proceedings.

She admitted she had made the code - with its wide usage of the words "lay", "laid" and "cock welfare" - for a bet.