Former Tory MP and ex-leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has gone somewhat off-grid (like many other ousted Tory top-dogs) since losing her seat in the election. Aside from a few trips to Washington DC and some speaking events, it looks like she may still be on the job hunt. Though she has shut down her pm4pm.com website, she has yet to come to terms with the fact she is no longer an MP on her all important for job hunters LinkedIn page…
Her first op-ed since July for the Independent, which she posted on LinkedIn, opining that the Autumn Statement will show if “we have our heads in the sand” has a twinge of irony attached to it. Like her former leader that she was rumoured to oust just a few months ago, Penny is still clinging to her old title of MP for Portsmouth and Leader of the Commons. The reality of shock unemployment may be a bit too much for her…
Spare a thought for the following 12 cabinet ministers, who lost their seats last night:
- Gillian Keegan – Education Secretary.
- Grant Shapps – Defence Secretary.
- Penny Mordaunt – Commons Leader.
- Alex Chalk – Justice Secretary.
- Lucy Frazer – Culture Secretary.
- David TC Davies – Welsh Secretary.
- Simon Hart – Chief Whip.
- Michelle Donelan – Innovation and Technology Secretary.
- Victoria Prentis – Attorney General.
- Johnny Mercer – Veterans Minister.
- Michael Tomlinson – Illegal Migration Minister.
- Mark Harper – Transport Secretary
A new record…
There goes the Leader of the House. 780 votes in it…
Mordaunt changed tack for last night’s seven-way clash on ITV. Last time, for the BBC version, viewers saw half-hearted interjections and self-pitying claims that the Tories have “hated” having to put up taxes to a 70-year record high. For this one Penny went on the full offensive. It seemed like a good idea at the time..
From repeated bickering exchanges with Angela Rayner, which made Mordaunt look like the one in opposition, to being told off by Julie Etchingham and forced to admit she was “agitated“, Mordaunt opened herself up to ridicule from the other panellists who would often say “oh dear” and “it’s just like the Commons” to sympathy from the audience. Penny pointing at all the panelists at the end while repeating “higher taxes higher taxes” put the cherry on top. More than a few people thought she was saying “hire taxis”…
It’s already being compared to her bizarre “stand up and fight” routine at party conference. Tory members are tearing the performance to shreds this morning…
As Penny Mordaunt gears up to face six other party representatives at the ITV debate, including Plaid’s Rhun ap Iorwerth, Guido is reminded of the Tory darling’s last battle with a Welshman. Back in 1996 Bryan Griffiths, a former councillor, was made redundant from his £31,000-a-year gig as the general manager of Reading University’s Student Union. He fixed his sights on the SU’s then president, one Penny Mordaunt, a philosophy graduate who had gone on to work at Conservative Central Office. Griffiths claimed Mordaunt “made derogatory remarks about his Welshness, saying he was a ‘little, dark, Welshman'”…
Griffiths took his grievance to an industrial tribunal and also alleged: “They have said there is no such thing as a Welsh nation. I have taken the case up with the Commission for Racial Equality.” Mordaunt later won against the Welshman in that tribunal case – a precedent for tonight?
Rayner and Mordaunt were locked into a heated row over which party will raise more taxes. Mordaunt insisted that the Tories had “supported people through some very difficult times, and we are starting to see the recovery” promising “more in our manifesto next week” on tax cuts. Pointing to Labour to Labour tax rises, the infamous £2,000 figure was chucked about by Penny. Rayner simply hit back: “That’s a lie”. Mordaunt kept interjecting – rather losing her cool…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
