Pulling pints, playing pool, at the helm of a ship and hugging constituents: Penny Mordaunt has released a new campaign video which she said represents “the real me”.
The Conservative leadership candidate, who on Saturday was substantially trailing Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson for MP nominations, describes in a voiceover how she has spent her life in Portsmouth.
In a personal portrayal of the MP for Portsmouth North, the video describes how her mother died when she was 15 years old. “From then on I looked after my family,” she says. “We relied on the NHS during that time and I will never forget it.”
When her family was short of money she worked in factories and pubs, she says, adding: “I know about the cost of living and how frightening it can be.”
Her home city, she says, is proud, patriotic and “likes a pie and a pint”, adding: “And quite frankly, so do I.”
The former defence secretary says: “I’ve done some amazing things in my life. I’ve had a seat at the table at the World Bank and Nato, I’ve been to war zones and humanitarian hotspots. I owe it all to the people of Portsmouth and to this country as a whole.”
It comes after she was forced to re-edit the campaign video for the last leadership race, in which she came third with 105 votes in July before being eliminated, after complaints from people featured in it, including the British Paralympian Jonnie Peacock. The original also featured Oscar Pistorius, the South African sprinter who was convicted of murder.
Perhaps making a dig at her rival candidates, in her latest video Mordaunt tells potential supporters: “There are many people that think they know me, just like they think they know you.”
She adds: “But ask yourself this: do they understand the life you live? Have they experienced it? Will they make that experience count? I have and I will.”
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