TORY leadership frontrunner Penny Mordaunt has said her experience as a member of the Royal Navy has given her the tools to “defeat the nationalists” in Scotland.
The Portsmouth North MP made the claim in an article written for the Scottish Daily Mail on Tuesday in which she also said she would break the SNP's “yellow wall”.
Mordaunt, who has emerged as one of the Conservative party members’ favourites to enter No 10, has leaned on her military credentials as part of her leadership bid.
Dave Doogan, the SNP MP for Angus and a member of the defence select committee, said service personnel would be "cringing" at Mordaunt's claims, while SNP president Michael Russell said the "violent" language was meant to appeal to a Tory base.
The Tory MP is a Royal Navy Reservist who was made an honorary captain in 2021. She was the first female minister for the armed forces from 2015, and in 2019 was made the first female defence secretary by Theresa May.
She was removed from post less than three months later after Boris Johnson became prime minister, who instead handed her a trade minister's brief.
Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail, Mordaunt said: “We must set that ambition to defeat the nationalists one day. I won’t pretend it will be easy. But as a member of the Royal Navy, I’ve got the courage and determination to take on that huge challenge.”
Mordaunt added that she knows “what it will take” to beat the SNP in Scotland having beaten Labour to win her Westminster seat in Portsmouth North.
SNP MP Doogan said the armed services "should remain above constitutional and party politics".
He told The National: “I meet many outstanding Royal Navy personnel in my role on the SNP Defence Team and I am confident they will be cringing to hear Ms Mordaunt’s claim the Royal Navy has taught her how to save the Union.
“Service personnel are and should remain above constitutional and party politics and they are certainly above the grubby Tory scrum which has emerged to replace the disgraced Tory leader Boris Johnson.
“But defence is complex and I fear Penny Mordaunt may not fully grasp this. That may also explain why she lasted less than three months as a minister in the MoD.”
Russell, Scotland's former constitution secretary, told The National: "This use of violent language and references to her naval reserve work are meant to create a favourable impression amongst members of the Tory party. But as they are a tiny and completely unrepresentative minority of the Scottish voting public, their actual effect will be to alienate even more Scottish voters while making Mordaunt look aggressive and out of touch.
"Add that to the stories circulating about her indolence in office – which I have seen at first hand – and she appears as alien and unappealing as all the other Tory leadership hopefuls."
Mordaunt (below) also used her article in the Scottish Daily Mail to double down on her opposition to a second independence referendum.
She wrote: “I won’t play Nicola Sturgeon’s games. When asked about a referendum, you’ll hear me answer instead about people’s real priorities, such as how we can put more of your hard-earned money back in your pocket. I am firmly against playing on the SNP’s turf.”
Mordaunt’s claim to be able to win in Scotland has been dismissed by SNP figures, with MP Stewart McDonald writing on Twitter: “That’s funny, Penny. Tell the next one … ”
The party’s president, former constitution secretary Michael Russell, said that in their past meetings Mordaunt had shown a “complete disinterest in Scotland and Wales coupled with laziness – she never delivered anything she promised”.
Speaking to The National, Russell said: “This use of violent language and references to her naval reserve work are meant to create a favourable impression amongst members of the Tory party.
"But as they are a tiny and completely unrepresentative minority of the Scottish voting public their actual effect will be to alienate even more Scottish voters while make mordaunt look aggressive and out of touch .
"Add that to the stories circulating about her indolence in office - which I have seen at first hand - and she appears as alien and unappealing as all the other Tory leadership hopefuls."
