MPs warn colleagues to avoid backing Penny Mordaunt’s leadership bid over her view on trans issues
- Mordaunt is widely expected to throw her hat in the ring to replace Liz Truss
- MPs said Mordaunt’s views on trans rights are an ‘impediment’ to her ambitions
- Yesterday she said the country needs ‘stability’ before praising Jeremy Hunt
Tory MPs have warned colleagues against backing Penny Mordaunt to be Prime Minister due to her lack of experience and stance on trans rights.
The Leader of the Commons is widely expected to throw her hat in the ring to replace Liz Truss, after coming third in the previous contest.
But MPs cautioned that Miss Mordaunt’s views on trans rights are a ‘massive impediment’ to her ambitions.
During the Tory leadership race over the summer, the Portsmouth North MP faced criticism for her ‘woke’ views.
Penny Mordaunt is widely expected to throw her hat in the ring to replace Liz Truss, but MPs allegedly said her views on trans rights are an ‘impediment’ to her ambitions
But she then came under fire for an apparent change of stance after declaring that trans women – who she had previously said were women – were not.
Last night a former Cabinet minister warned: ‘Penny Mordaunt’s views on transgender people are a massive impediment to her ambitions to be Prime Minister. If she were to win the contest, female voters would stay away in droves.’
Another senior Tory said: ‘There’s lots of talk that wherever she goes she leaves a chaotic mess behind her. But I’m also not sure what her views are. I don’t know of any original idea that has ever come to her in the course of her life.
‘I don’t know what makes her tick, and there are definite issues about her trans position that will put a lot of people off.’
A former trade minister with Cabinet experience in the defence and international development briefs, Miss Mordaunt ran to replace Boris Johnson with the campaign name ‘PM 4 PM’.
The Royal Navy Reservist narrowly missed out on a place in the head-to-head phase in which she backed Miss Truss over Rishi Sunak.
Mordaunt said she planned to ‘keep calm and carry on’ and told MPs that the country needs ‘stability and calm’ before praising new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
Yesterday Miss Mordaunt said she planned to ‘keep calm and carry on’ and encouraged others to do the same in the wake of the PM’s resignation.
She also told MPs that the country needs ‘stability and calm’ before praising new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Responding to criticism from Labour, she said: ‘Market functioning has improved, borrowing costs have been lowered and the pound is strengthening… Despite the very volatile global economic conditions, the economy remains resilient.’
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