Penny Mordaunt made a robust apology for Sunak ditching D-Day early. As expected, Farage took at swing at the Commons Leader for Sunak’s actions, to which Penny responded:
“What happened was completely wrong and the Prime Minister has rightly apologised for that, apologised to veterans but also to all of us, because he was representing all of us. I’m from Portsmouth, I’ve also been defence secretary and my wish at the end of this week is that all of our veterans feel completely treasured. And I’m hoping tonight to convince you of some of the things that are important to them.”
Very awkward for Mordaunt…
Penny Mordaunt, Angela Rayner, Stephen Flynn, Daisy Cooper, Carla Denyer, Rhun ap Iorwerth and Nigel Farage will tonight be representing their parties in the first seven-way debate of the General Election campaign from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on BBC. After today’s fallout over Sunak’s grovelling apology following his D-Day ditching, Penny will be facing a tough crowd. Considering she posted a photo of her meeting veterans in five years ago, the assumption is that the sword carrier didn’t go to Normandy off her own back. No doubt Nigel, who was in France all day yesterday, will crucify her and Sunak over that…
All eyes will be on Rayner, who’s clearly courting the left wing to balance Starmer’s centrist approach. She’s been pushing Starmer’s buttons all campaign – first defying him on Abbott, then doubling down on her anti-Trident stance from 2016. Look out for her to stray from the leader’s script again when she goes head to head with Farage…
Labour’s nervous about losing votes to Reform, so Rayner will hammer home that only Labour can boot the Tories out. Mordaunt will likely hit back, accusing Labour of plotting the infamous £2,000 tax hike and pointing to Rachel Reeves’ rumoured tax increases. The possible outcome for Penny Mordaunt is that it crucifies her leadership campaign before the starting gun has been fired…
‘The plotters’ may have thrown in the towel, but others have left a digital trace. Back in 2019, Penny Mordaunt’s campaign webpage held the domain name pm4pm.com. Catchy…
It was owned by Lewis Communications, a PR business run by Chris Lewis, who is said to be the political and spin guru behind Penny’s (abortive) leadership pitches. The domain, still in the same ownership, was last updated on 2nd May – the day of the local elections. The URL links directly to Penny’s ‘about’ page, and expires in 2025. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail…
Labour Together have commissioned a poll of who Tory members would vote for in a mock leadership contest. Not particularly helpful polling for Sunak…
Apparently (out of the 537 members surveyed), 46% think Sunak should quit if the Tories lose more than half of the seats they’re defending in the locals, while 38% think he should resign as leader full stop. In a race between Penny and Rishi, 58% would back Penny. Meanwhile Farage is the favourite for Tory leader overall at 27%. Perhaps someone in the US can tell him while he’s out there hiding from further pestering about whether he’ll stand or not…
The poll came just hours before the plotters officially threw in the towel in their bid to replace Rishi. They’re all commiserating in the pub, with one plotter telling Guido: “We’re going to get drunk. T’is finished”. Timing is everything…
Last Friday long-serving Penny Mordaunt SpAd Ed Jankowski left her office. Prompting a flurry of questions in SW1 and more than one raised eyebrow in Downing Street over her high staff turnover…
Jankowski worked alone prior to Hannah Galley joining the team in summer 2023 and leaving a few months later. In late February this year old Penny leadership campaigner Alex Read transferred from communications agency inHouse to Penny’s team – he’s now “spinning all the plates” in an office known to be “difficult” and “very solitary“. Government sources are noting “the gang” is getting back together – though only a gang of two…
Guido hears from sources sympathetic to Mordaunt that a slimmed-down team is fine because she is a “work horse” and that SpAds at her office can “lean on the civil service” if they want to do more politicking. Former Penny SpAd Laura Round is still thought to be busy organising from outside Parliament. Mordaunt, after all, did turn down the “invited to leave” Richard Holden SpAd Robbie Lammas when he came knocking. No room at the inn…
With Mordaunt’s seat at risk a pre-election ascendency would do her well. MPs on Team Penny are highly active in comparison with other leadership hopefuls. It’s the voters that count…
Downing Street denies blocking Penny Mordaunt penning an article for The Sunday Telegraph on defence spending this weekend – contrary to whispers going around. Downing Street claims they didn’t block Penny from writing for the paper, despite it being pulled at the last minute according to Fleet Street sources. Penny is said to be pretty angry about it…
Penny’s been hitting the headlines recently over speculation of a potential leadership bid before the election, and it looks like Downing Street are now trying to rein her in. One Westminster source says:
“Open season on the PM is over. She can either be a member of the cabinet or she can campaign to lead it. She cannot expect to be allowed to do both.”
On the offence…
UPDATE: Downing Street says that Penny’s piece was written for the Mail on Sunday, who rejected it. Another op-ed had already been organised in The Sunday Telegraph so Penny’s was agreed to go to them next week. Penny’s team blames internal miscommunication for the mishap. Their robust response shows the degree of concern about Penny being seen to be offside…
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.”