Penny Mordaunt emerges as dark horse contender for the Conservative Party leadership

Penny Mordaunt emerges as dark horse contender for the Conservative Party leadership
Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 19/01/2022

- 13:37

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 11:36

The Trade minister has held several key positions in the Cabinet, and is well-supported by Red Wall MPs who were elected into their posts in 2019

Penny Mordaunt has been backed as a dark horse contender to take over as Conservative party leader, as speculation mounts over Boris Johnson's future.

The Trade minister has held several key positions in the Cabinet, and is well-supported by Red Wall MPs who were elected into their posts at the 2019 general election.


Many of the Red Wall Tory MPs are said to be concerned over the prospect of losing their seat due to the ongoing "partygate" scandal.

An ally of Mordaunt told PoliticsHome: "She is focused on doing her job, and drawing attention to matters of grave concern, in particular the raft of challenges facing NATO".

Johnson is refusing to resign over the issue, and continues to deny having any knowledge that the event was rule-breaking in its nature.

Despite this, the Conservatives have plummeted in the pulls, resulting in a surge of MPs calling for the Prime Minister to resign, including Christian Wakeford, who has defected to Labour.

As Mr Johnson faces further criticism, conversations as to who may well be best-placed to replace him have taken place.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, have been backed as the frontrunners for the role.

Despite this, PoliticsHome understands that some MPs have backed Penny Mordaunt as a candidate to be the party's next leader, as she could bring together the different wings of the party.

A Conservative party source told them: "Boris is inherently divisive to one side of the party, as was May, they believe she's someone who can be a more unifying figure like David Cameron was".

A ConservativeHome regular survey last month found Mordaunt to be the third most popular candidate for the job, behind Liz Truss, who came in first, and Sunak, who was in second.

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