Penny Mordaunt: A Short Timeline

After receiving Priti Patel’s resignation, Theresa May was quick to find a new International Development Secretary. Following a mini-Cabinet Reshuffle, Penny Mordaunt was promoted to the role.

So what do you need to know about the new International Development Secretary?

Penny Mordaunt is 44 years old and the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North. Coming from an Armed Forces family, she is also the only female MP who is a Royal Naval Reservist.

Mordaunt had a challenging early life; her mother died from cancer when she was 15, forcing her father to work long hours and her brother to leave school to work in a factory to support the family and Mordaunt to take on the role of the family carer for her 9-year-old brother.

She studied philosophy at the University of Reading and then pursued a career in business for private, public and charitable sectors including Diabetes UK, Kensington and Chelsea Council and Freight Transport Association. One of her more notable roles was head of foreign press for George W Bush’s 2000 and 2004 presidential election campaigns. She has also worked for and with high profile UK politicians including John Major, William Hague and David Willetts.

In 2010 she was elected as MP for Portsmouth North, succeeding Labour’s Sarah McCarthy-Fry.

Four years later, she appeared on the ITV series Splash!, in which celebrity contestants were taught to dive by Tom Daley. Despite the fact she donated her £10,000 earnings from the show to her constituency and charities, she was criticised for her appearance and received many sexist remarks. One of her critics was TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, who called Mordaunt ‘an attention-seeking wannabe in a skimpy swimming costume’. Pictured below (middle), this is the so-called skimpy swimming costume.

In the 2015 general election, Mordaunt’s majority rose to more than 10,000 possibly because of her increased profile due to the TV show.

Mordaunt was in favour of the Leave campaign in 2016 and her appointment keeps the balance between Leavers and Remainers balanced in the Cabinet.