'We will win back trust by giving people hope in the future again

When PENNY MORDAUNT narrowly lost her seat in last summer's disastrous Tory election collapse, it only made this paratrooper's daughter even more determined to make a difference to the country she loves. She tells David Williamson about the childhood that shaped her, her anger at the current Government and why she intends to return to frontline politics

- By David Williamson

PENNY Mordaunt won the attention of the world as a sword-bearer at the Coronation of King Charles - and now she wants to get back on to the political battlefield. The former Defence Secretary says she finds it "heartbreaking" to watch what Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are doing to the country and is now ready to grasp opportunities to return to Parliament.

She wants to play the fullest possible part in giving people a reason to feel pride in their nation, but fears a surge in unemployment is coming if Labour presses ahead with its tax plans.

Ms Mordaunt who is named after the cruiser HMS Penelope and trained as a naval reservist was among the Conservative casualties of last summer's disastrous general election.

But defeat by just 780 votes in her beloved constituency of Portsmouth North has not dimmed her determination to make her mark on Britain.

"I would obviously love to come back to Parliament, but I shall try to make myself useful in the meantime," she says.

One of the great "what-ifs" of modern British politics is what would have happened if Ms Mordaunt and not Liz Truss had succeeded Boris Johnson as Prime Minister in 2022.

This paratrooper's daughter made the final three in the leadership contest and her fans admire her fierce commitment to national defence, her personal warmth and her battle-hardened communication skills.

She has first-hand experience of crisis from her time growing up in Portsmouth.

Her mother died of breast cancer when she was 15 and her father was diagnosed with cancer shortly afterwards.

Penny had to care for her nine-year-old brother, so she found work... as a magician's assistant.

"It was the most money I could earn in the time I had between working at school and college for my exams, and taking care of my family," she explains. "That's what my community taught me.