1. Penelope Mary "Penny" Mordaunt is a British former Conservative politician who served as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons from 2022 until 2024.
61 Facts About Penny Mordaunt
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Penny Mordaunt was the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North from 2010 to 2024.
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Penny Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, before working in the public relations industry.
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Penny Mordaunt held roles under Conservative Party leaders John Major and William Hague, and worked for George W Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.
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Penny Mordaunt was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election.
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Penny Mordaunt supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership.
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Penny Mordaunt served as Minister for Women and Equalities from 2018 to 2019.
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In May 2019, Penny Mordaunt was appointed to the Cabinet position of Secretary of State for Defence, replacing Gavin Williamson, becoming the first woman to hold the post.
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Penny Mordaunt served as Defence Secretary for 85 days before returning to the backbenches, having been removed from office by the new prime minister Boris Johnson.
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Penny Mordaunt was appointed as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council when Truss became prime minister.
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Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the election after being unable to gain the necessary endorsement of 100 MPs, allowing Sunak to become Conservative Leader and prime minister unopposed.
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Penelope Penny Mordaunt was born on 4 March 1973 in Torquay, Devon.
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Penny Mordaunt's father, John Mordaunt, born at Hilsea Barracks, served in the Parachute Regiment before retraining as a teacher, and later became a youth worker for Hampshire County Council.
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Penny Mordaunt's mother, Jennifer, was a special needs teacher at schools in Purbrook.
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Penny Mordaunt has two brothers: her twin, James, and a younger brother, Edward.
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Penny Mordaunt was educated at Oaklands Roman Catholic School in Waterlooville, Hampshire, and studied drama at the Victoryland Theatre School.
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Penny Mordaunt was 15 when her mother died of breast cancer and after leaving school, she became her younger brother Edward's primary caregiver.
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Penny Mordaunt has attributed her interest in politics to her experiences whilst working in hospitals and orphanages of Romania in the aftermath of the 1989 revolution.
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Penny Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, graduating in 1995 with upper second class honours.
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Penny Mordaunt was active in student politics and served as president of the Reading University Students' Union.
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Penny Mordaunt worked as a communications specialist for the Freight Transport Association from 1997 to 1999.
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Penny Mordaunt was Communications Director for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 2001 to 2003, before leaving to set up a new Anglo-American website called 'virtualconservatives'.
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Penny Mordaunt was a director at the Community Fund, which merged with the New Opportunities Fund to create the Big Lottery Fund, and created the Veterans Reunited programme, enabling service men and women to visit World War II battlefields and be involved in commemorative events.
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Penny Mordaunt worked for the Big Lottery Fund from 2003 to 2005.
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In November 2003, Penny Mordaunt was selected as the Conservative candidate to contest Portsmouth North in the 2005 general election.
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Penny Mordaunt was re-selected in January 2006 to contest Portsmouth North at the 2010 general election.
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In 2014, Penny Mordaunt proposed the Loyal Address in reply to the Queen's Speech from the throne.
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When receiving the Speech of the Year award at The Spectator magazine's Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in November 2014, Penny Mordaunt said that she had delivered a speech in the House of Commons just before the Easter recess in 2013 on poultry welfare so as to use the word "cock", as a forfeit for a misdemeanour during Naval Reserve training.
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At the 2015 general election, Penny Mordaunt was re-elected as the MP for Portsmouth North with an increased majority of 10,537.
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In February 2024, Penny Mordaunt was re-selected as the Conservative candidate for Portsmouth North at the 2024 general election.
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Penny Mordaunt was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Decentralisation at the Department for Communities and Local Government by Prime Minister David Cameron in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle.
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Penny Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces in May 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the post.
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Penny Mordaunt needs to apologise for how we were treated.
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Penny Mordaunt was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development by Prime Minister Theresa May on 9 November 2017, after Priti Patel resigned.
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Penny Mordaunt said that Oxfam did "absolutely the wrong thing" by not reporting the detail of the allegations to the Government.
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Penny Mordaunt felt it was important for aid organisations to report offences because she suspected that there were paedophiles "targeting" the charity sector in order to carry out predatory activities.
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Penny Mordaunt became Minister for Women and Equalities in April 2018, replacing Amber Rudd, who had resigned following the Windrush scandal.
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On 1 May 2019, Penny Mordaunt was appointed as the first female Secretary of State for Defence following the dismissal of Gavin Williamson.
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Penny Mordaunt had been a prominent supporter of Johnson's opponent, Jeremy Hunt, in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.
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Penny Mordaunt was the UK alternate co-chair of the EU Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee.
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Penny Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy in the 2021 cabinet reshuffle.
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On 6 September 2022, Penny Mordaunt was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council.
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On 6 May 2023, Penny Mordaunt participated in the coronation of Charles III and Camilla, presenting the Jewelled Sword of Offering, in her ceremonial role as Lord President of the Privy Council and bearer of the Sword of State.
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Penny Mordaunt became the first woman ever to fulfil the role.
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Penny Mordaunt attributed her strength to her previous navy training, while disclosing that she took painkillers before the ceremony.
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Penny Mordaunt was one of many high-profile Conservative politicians who lost their seats in Labour's landslide victory, alongside Liz Truss, Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Johnny Mercer.
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In July 2022, following the resignation of Boris Johnson during the July 2022 government crisis, Penny Mordaunt launched her bid to be the next Conservative Leader and consequently UK Prime Minister.
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Penny Mordaunt's campaign edited the video to remove footage of Peacock and Pistorius, and later issued a third edition of the video with a short clip of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox removed, following a request from Cox's family.
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On 1 August 2022, Penny Mordaunt declared her support for Liz Truss in the final round of the leadership contest.
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Penny Mordaunt was a member of the Royal Naval Reserve from 2010 until 2019.
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Penny Mordaunt remained on List 6 until April 2019, at which point she left the RNR.
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Penny Mordaunt was granted the honorary rank of commander in April 2019, and then promoted to honorary captain RNR on 30 June 2021.
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Penny Mordaunt voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.
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Penny Mordaunt has said in the House of Commons that the Northern Ireland protocol creates unique disadvantages for Northern Ireland.
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Penny Mordaunt has often advocated that the British National Health Service should fund the availability of homeopathy.
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In June 2020, Penny Mordaunt produced a proposal for a pair of ships with the primary role of specialising in trade, research, and humanitarian work.
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Penny Mordaunt has been a member of the British Astronomical Association, and, as of 2013, was chair of the Wymering Manor Trust in Portsmouth.
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Penny Mordaunt ran the League of Friends visiting team at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth for eight years.
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Penny Mordaunt is a patron of the Music Man Project, a charity that provides musical opportunities to people with learning disabilities.
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Penny Mordaunt met Paul Murray as a student at the University of Reading and married him in 1999, but they divorced the following year.
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Penny Mordaunt strengthened her security after a letter was sent to her constituency office threatening to "shoot her in the head" and "kill her family".