Penelope Mary Mordaunt FRSA is a British politician who has been serving as Minister of State for Trade Policy since 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Portsmouth North since 2010.
From 2017 to 2019, she served in Theresa May’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development, and as Secretary of State for Defense from May to July 2019.
Mordaunt read philosophy at the University of Reading, before working in the public relations industry. She held roles within the Conservative Party under party leaders John Major and William Hague, and also worked for George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.
Mordaunt was elected to the House of Commons in May 2010. Under the coalition government of David Cameron, she served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Decentralisation from 2014 to 2015.
After the 2015 general election, Cameron promoted her to Minister of State for the Armed Forces, the first woman to hold the post. Mordaunt supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership.
Following Theresa May’s appointment as Prime Minister, Mordaunt was appointed Minister of State for Disabled People, Work, and Health. In 2017, following the resignation of Priti Patel, she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development. She also served as Minister for Women and Equalities from 2018 to 2019.
In May 2019, Mordaunt was appointed Secretary of State for Defence, replacing Gavin Williamson, becoming the first woman to hold the post. She served as Defence Secretary for 85 days before returning to the backbenches, having been removed from the position by the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In the February 2020 reshuffle, she re-entered government as Paymaster General. In the 2021 reshuffle, she was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy.
In July 2022, Mordaunt is running in the leadership race to become the leader of the Conservative Party and the next prime minister.
