One of the most prominent Tory politicians has vowed to help Kemi Badenoch in the fight against Reform UK. Dame Penny Mordaunt, the former MP for Portsmouth North, has pledged to return to the Conservative Party as a “foot soldier” to help claw back public confidence ahead of the next election as the party plummets to third place in the polls.
Currently, Reform is flying ahead in the YouGov voting intention polls at 28%; Labour is trailing behind at 20%; and the Conservatives are flailing with 17%. Dame Penny lost her seat in a narrow defeat to Labour’s Amanda Martin last July, however, she told ITV’s Peston programme that she “couldn’t think of anything more important to do” than support the Conservative Party at this moment in UK politics.
She said: “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 [Bedenoch] 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 is expected to run again in her former Portsmouth North constituency at the next election, which will have to be called by August 2029.
Dame Penny previously ran to be Tory leader in 2022, but she said she is “sticking by” Badenoch, who she called a “trooper”.
She added: “[Kemi Badenoch] has been doing well. There was the Angela Rayner incident and she’s obviously been pushing on Mandelson.
“Kemi is a trooper, it’s not going to be fun, she’s not going to win plaudits for a little while yet. But she knows the work that needs to be done and I’m sticking with her to do it. You have to give people a sense of what you’re about and how you’ve changed.”
Dame Penny lost first to Liz Truss when she ran for the leader position in 2022, then to Rishi Sunak, who she supported after pulling out the race.