Dame Penny Mordaunt revealed she is planning a return to frontline politics to help Kemi Badenoch and the Tories. The former Commons leader said she is filling out her application form to be on the party’s candidate list.
Dame Penny, who narrowly lost her Portsmouth North seat at last year’s general election, also urged others to do the same. Her intervention comes as the Conservatives are facing the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Dame Penny told ITV’s Peston programme: “I’m filling out my application form to get on the candidates list, and I hope many others do as well.
“I’m a foot soldier now and I’ll do whatever I can from where I am to help Kemi and the party.
“Being a Conservative at the moment is no fun. I can think of much more fun things to do, but I can’t think of anything more important to do.
“We’ve got to do the hard yards at building back a policy platform that’s actually going to do what the public needs us to do.
“People are fed up with politics as usual, they don’t care if the cat is red or blue, they want some mice caught.”
Dame Penny, who went viral for her sword-carrying role at the King’s Coronation, is a former Tory leadership hopeful.
The former defence secretary’s comments come as the Conservatives are languishing in third place in the polls behind Labour and Reform, which is consistently in the lead.
Danny Kruger became the first sitting Tory MP to defect to Mr Farage’s party yesterday in a major blow to Mrs Badenoch, declaring that the Tories are “over”.