TORY politician Penny Mordaunt has been touted as a frontrunner to become next Prime Minister.
She has worked in politics for over 20 years and even went on ITV‘s Splash! Here’s everything you need to know.
Penny Mordaunt was born on March 4, 1973, in Torquay, Devon.
She graduated from the University of Reading in 1995 with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy.
While still at university she married Paul Murray but the pair divorced just a year later.
She now lives with her long-term partner Ian Lyon, who works as a classical singer.
Penny has a particular love of cats and breeds Burmese kittens at the couple’s home.
Ms Mordaunt was briefly the Head of Foreign Press for George W Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000.
She entered British politics in the 2005 general elections, where she lost by 1,139 votes in Portsmouth North, running for the Conservative Party.
In the 2010 general election, Ms Mordaunt was elected the MP for Portsmouth North and she was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.
Currently, Ms Mordaunt is the only female MP who is a Royal Naval Reservist.
Ms Mordaunt has held many positions within Parliament since being elected in 2010.
She was appointed as the Minister of State for the Armed Forces in 2015 and in 2016 she was appointed as the Minister of State for Disabled people.
During the 2016 Brexit referendum she was one of the leading faces in the Leave campaign.
This lead to a political mishap when she wrongly claimed Britain would not be able to veto Turkey joining the EU, which got her a furious dressing-down from then boss David Cameron.
In November 2017, she was appointed to the Secretary of State for International Development.
On May 1, 2019, Ms Mordaunt became the first ever female Defence Secretary following the sacking of Gavin Williamson, but she only served for 85 days.
In the 2020 cabinet reshuffle she was appointed Paymaster General before landing her current role of Minister of State for Trade Policy in 2021.
She was named as a candidate in the running for the Conservative leadership after Boris Johnson stepped down.
In 2014, Penny appeared on the reality TV programme Splash!
The show featured celebrities learning how to dive and was fronted by Olympic diver Tom Daley.
She received criticism for appearing on the show saying she should have focused on her constituency work.
Ms Mordaunt defended herself saying she would donate her £10,000 appearance fee to charity, which she did.
She is most remembered for a painful looking belly-flop while on the show.
Penny came ninth on the show out of 20 contestants, the winner was Diversity dancer Perri Kiely.
The show was axed after two seasons.
