Who is Penny Mordaunt, the ‘dark horse’ challenger to Rishi Sunak in the UK PM race?

In the race to replace Boris Johnson as the next United Kingdom prime minister, former finance minister Rishi Sunak is leading with 101 votes. Not so far behind is an unlikely name: Penny Mordaunt. A favourite of bookmakers, she had 82 votes and is likely to emerge as the main challenger to the Indian-origin Sunak.

Mordaunt is a low-profile politician, who has largely kept away from the many controversies plaguing the Johnson government – partygate and whatnot.

According to a recent report published in DailyMail, only 11 per cent of the British public could identify the Conservative Party leader when shown her photograph. Even within the party, she’s not that popular. “She’s a bit of a mystery, to all of us,” Matthew Parris, a former Tory leader and political columnist, told the BBC.

Who is most likely to win a General Election? #PM4PM pic.twitter.com/6SMVJcOrxt

— Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) July 15, 2022

So who is Penny Mordaunt?

The political plunge

The 49-year-old has been a lawmaker since 2010 and is now a junior trade minister. But even before running as a member of Parliament (MP), she was an active Tory member.

After graduating with a philosophy degree in 1995, she went on to become the head of youth of the Conservative Party. And then was appointed the Tory head of broadcasting under veteran politician William Hague.

She was also the head of foreign press for United States president George W Bush’s presidential candidate, working for both his 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

Thank you!