Tories are underdog in this election, admits Mordaunt

Minister calls for party to ignore polls and rally as she gives The Independent her first in-depth interview of the election

- DAVID MADDOX

Penny Mordaunt has issued a rallying call to beleaguered Tories across the UK that the election result is “not a foregone conclusion” – but conceded that her party is now very much “the underdog”.

With many seeing Ms Mordaunt as a leader in waiting after a Tory defeat, she admits she felt “let down” by Rishi Sunak over the D-Day fiasco, which hit the headlines just hours before she was due to take part in a televised debate. But she also made it clear that she wants to see tax cuts, in a message to her party as well as the country.

The Tory cabinet minister gave a wide-ranging interview to The Independent from her bellwether constituency of Portsmouth North. Ms Mordaunt won the seat from Labour on her second attempt in 2010, and has increased her majority in each election since. In the interview, she addressed:

• The inside story of how she reacted when she learnt that the prime minister had left the D-Day commemorations early

• Why she believes the Tories need to be pushing tax cuts

• Why the polls could be wrong

• How she deals with misogyny in politics

• How she prepared for the TV debates

Apart from Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt has been the only cabinet minister the Tories have trusted to stand front and centre in the election campaign with her two appearances in the seven-way party debates.

When news broke on 6 June that Mr Sunak had left the D-Day events in Normandy early, Ms Mordaunt was campaigning in Portsmouth, the home of the Royal Navy, where the liberation of Europe was planned and launched. She had attended the events in Portsmouth the day before, and was getting ready for the first of the two televised debates, which was due to take place the following day.