Penny Mordaunt first grabbed her colleagues’ attention by talking balls. On the day of a Queen’s speech, two backbenchers on the government side are invited to propose the loyal address. The main requirement is to be funny. When the role was given to Ms Mordaunt she more than met expectations by having MPs in stitches with a witty routine that drew on her experiences as a naval reservist. “I have benefited from some excellent training by the Royal Navy, but on one occasion I felt that it was not as bespoke as it might have been. Fascinating though it was, I felt that the lecture and practical demonstration on how to care for the penis and testicles in the field failed to appreciate that some of us attending had been issued with the incorrect kit.”
This is a theme of her career. She has admitted taking part in a debate on the welfare of poultry so that she could repeatedly say the word “cock” in parliament to satisfy a forfeit imposed by her navy comrades. Launching her bid to be the next leader of her party, she responded to a question about her views on gender identity by saying: “Margaret Thatcher said every prime minister needs a Willie. A woman like me doesn’t have one.”
