‘I’m in this to win it’: Penny Mordaunt denies ‘completely false’ claims she offered to back Boris Johnson in return for top job – as allies claim MPs might be ‘publicly backing ex-PM but will then support HER in secret Commons vote’
- Penny Mordaunt declares ‘I’m in this to win it’ as she continues Tory leader bid
- The Cabinet minister is trailing Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in the race for PM
- But she insists she is ‘very confident’ she will get the required backing from MPs
Penny Mordaunt today declared ‘I’m in this to win it’ as the Tory leadership contender denied claims she had offered to back Boris Johnson in return for a top job.
The Leader of the House of Commons, who also stood to be Prime Minister in this summer’s contest, is trailing both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak in the number of publicly-declared backers.
In order to formally enter the race to replace Liz Truss as PM, hopefuls have to get the nominations of 100 Tory MPs by 2pm tomorrow.
Ms Mordaunt currently has less than 30 MPs openly supporting her. But she insisted this morning she was ‘very confident’ she would get the required backing.
She rejected a report she had offered to back Mr Johnson’s bid to make a stunning comeback to No10 in return for a job from him.
‘It’s completely false,’ she told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
Pressed on whether she would back Mr Johnson or current frontrunner Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt said: ‘I’m standing to be Prime Minister. I am not contemplating how the other camps are organising themselves.’
Meanwhile, one of Ms Mordaunt’s supporters suggested that some MPs had been pressured into publicly backing Mr Johnson by their local Tory associations.
They expressed hope those MPs may yet support Ms Mordaunt in private.
Penny Mordaunt is trailing both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in the number of publicly-declared backers
The Cabinet minister arrived for her BBC interview along with her long-time ally Dame Andrea Leadsom (right)
In her BBC interview this morning, Ms Mordaunt refused to say whether she would be comfortable with a comeback by Mr Johnson
‘It’s not about him, it’s not about me, it’s about the public,’ she said.
‘I’m in this to win it. I think it’s important for our party, we have a contest. I am very confident about our numbers.’
After coming third in the final ballot of MPs in this summer’s contest, behind Ms Truss and Mr Sunak, Ms Mordaunt went on to support Ms Truss.
She was later appointed to Ms Truss’s Cabinet as Commons leader.
Ms Mordaunt said today she was a ‘halfway house’ between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak in the last contest and that she could unite the party.
‘I was a halfway house between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak and I deeply regret that the debate now is about “are you for stability or low taxes”,’ she said.
‘That’s not the right construct. There are two sides of the same coin. You have to have stability in order to deliver low tax and you have to have low taxes in order to grow the economy and create that stability.
‘That is what I am standing for. That is why I think I’m best placed to unite our party.’
But Ms Mordaunt refused to give details of her tax and spend policy.
She declined to explicitly commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, the pensions triple lock, three per cent defence spending and no cuts to the NHS.
One supporter of Ms Mordaunt admitted she had a ‘problem with momentum’ since officially launching her campaign on Friday.
But they expressed hope she could yet be backed by more MPs than were currently saying in public.
‘Colleagues are saying one thing in public and another in private,’ the supporter told the Sunday Times.
‘Some seem to have been pressured to support Boris by their associations and have come out publicly for him instead.
‘She hopes that when it comes to the secret ballot, they may yet throw their weight behind her, and her numbers will swell.
‘But she is more than aware that she currently has a problem with momentum.’
She has also vowed to form a Government of ‘all our best talent’ and not ‘cherrypick’ ministers for ‘personal loyalties’.
‘I know that as Prime Minister I can unite all parts of the party and, more importantly, all parts of the country,’ Ms Mordaunt wrote in the Sunday Express.
Source: Read Full Article
