Penny Mordaunt’s supporters were pushing today Tory The Leadership Hopeful Is A ‘Freedom Lioness’ And A ‘No’ picking As warriors, he was looking to get his campaign back on track after the initial setbacks.
The international trade minister ended months of speculation about his political ambitions this weekend by entering a wide-open race to formally replace boris johnson,
But Ms Mordant’s hopes of becoming prime minister suffered an initial setback when she was labeled ‘a committed warrior for the trans lobby’ and was forced to swiftly edit her campaign launch video.
The 49-year-old has been targeted by critics for his stance that ‘trans women are women’, while the three-minute video that begins his ‘PM 4 PM’ quote initially included footage of the killer. Oscar Pistorius,
Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordant has been targeted by critics over her stance that ‘trans women are women’
Ms Mordant’s two prominent supporters – George Freeman and Andrea Leadsom – hit out at the ‘inappropriate’ and ‘mud-sling’ attacks today
George Freeman, a former science minister and a prominent supporter of Ms Mordaunt, pushed back this morning against attacks on her candidacy.
She stressed that Ms Mordent’s stance on trans rights was ‘not the most important thing’ as she hailed her as a ‘treacherous Brexiteer’ and a ‘conservative of a nation’ with a ‘beautifully moving backstory’.
“She was equality minister in the previous government and I think conservatism should be liberal,” Freeman told Times Radio.
‘Yes, it is a philosophy that has its roots in the mainstream. But we should be confident and generous enough to be able to welcome minorities and welcome people of different faiths.
‘When it comes to gender, she has been quite clear that a woman is a woman.
‘Women need to know that their gender is sacred and protected by law. And he has made it clear.
‘I’m afraid people are using it as a weapon to attack, I think it’s very unfair.’
Mr Freeman expressed his views, pointing to Ms Mordant’s ‘very, very clear statement’ and said she has received ‘strong support from many women campaigners’.
He said, ‘Penny Mordaunt is not a vigilante warrior, she is a freedom lioness.’
‘We need to be a party of freedom and security and finding a balance between those two rights is something I think is in Penny’s DNA.’
Ms Mordant suffered another blow when her campaign launch video was revealed to include footage of assassin Oscar Pistorius at the 2012 Paralympics
PM to International Trade Minister Boris Johnson. are among the 12 potential candidates in the race to replace
Yesterday, Ms Mordant issued a series of Twitter posts rebutting the attacks on her trans stance.
The Royal Navy reservist insisted there was a difference between ‘biological women’ and ‘legally women’, as she described how she was ‘Struggled for women’s rights throughout life’
Still, while Ms. Mordaunt was looking to move on from a row, she suffered another setback when her campaign launch video was revealed to include footage of Pistorius. He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp – two years earlier – at the 2012 Paralympics.
She suffered another knock after Team GB Paralympian Johnny Peacock – also featured in the footage of the video – was asked to remove.
Both men have now been edited out from the three-minute clip.
Mr Freeman insisted the video was not linked ‘quickly’: ‘these things happen. I think one person said they were happy but it was not in writing and then they changed their mind.
Former cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom, one of Ms Mordant’s supporters, issued a petition calling for the rival Tory camps to cool temperatures in the No. 10 battle.
He hit those who ‘Just claim something that may have very, very little bearing on reality’ as she acknowledged how ‘mud sticks’.
Dame Andrea was Theresa May’s final contender in the 2016 Tory leadership contest before she dropped out in a newspaper interview amid her comments about motherhood.
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I think all allies should keep in mind that at the end of this we need to bring our party together.’
Ms Mordant was promoted in a bid for Tory leader when she was supported by the FairFuelUK campaign.
It has promised an immediate 50 percent cut in VAT on fuel, which it claims will reduce the cost of filling up at the pumps to £10 for the average family car.
The Portsmouth North MP first declared in a 2018 interview with the Pinknews website that ‘trans women are women’.
Ms Mordant reiterated that stance from the House of Commons dispatch box in March last year, when she told lawmakers: ‘Trans men are men and trans women are women.’
The 49-year-old is now set to do well in the race for Tory leadership, freshly scrutinized by her past comments on trans issues.
The topic could become an important debate point in the race to succeed Mr Johnson, with other contenders – such as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and current Equality Minister Cami Badenoch – also making major interventions in government policy on the issue. .
Some conservative commentators claimed that Ms Mordent’s earlier comments had ruined her chances of becoming prime minister.
And the campaign group Conservative for Women (CfW) also hit out at her ‘radical views about trans rights’.
A spokesperson said: ‘She has always been a committed warrior for the trans lobby.
‘His propagation of mantras and his failure to see how it can cause huge harm to women’s rights and children, raises questions about his decision.’
With controversy over her stance on trans rights threatening to derail her bid to become Tory leader, Ms Mordant sparked an angry counterattack.
She posted on Twitter: ‘I hope in the next few days we will be able to discuss how we can get our economy going again and enable our citizens to live well. Right now, I want to address another question I’ve been asked: Do I know what a woman is?
‘Yes I do. I’m a woman.’