Mordaunt insists she's 'up to the job' and says attacks on her are a 'big fat compliment'

16 July 2022, 00:27 | Updated: 20 October 2022, 13:50

Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has insisted she is capable of being the UK's next prime minister after labelling attacks on her campaign a "big fat compliment".

The trade minister urged people to look at her "record" of achievements including securing soldiers the living wage and ending a dispute around striking firefighters, according to the Telegraph.

"I do get stuff done," she told the paper, adding that she believes in Brexit to her "core" and therefore feels she is better able to deliver it than Liz Truss.

She also told the paper she is being targeted by a "black ops" campaign amid growing concerns about what her leadership could look like.

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In the first televised leadership debate on Friday, Ms Mordaunt said attacks on her campaign were taken as "a big fat compliment" because it meant "no one wants to run against me".

When asked about the "hit job" on her campaign, she said: "We are all responsible for our own campaigns and I take it as a big fat compliment that no-one wants to run against me.

"The campaign that I'm running, people can see, is not doing that.

"I think it's incredibly important, if we are going to rebuild trust, to stop that sort of thing.

"I would suggest to candidates that they adopt that model."

Trans rights, the net-zero carbon target, and whether Boris Johnson is honest were key talking points during the first Tory leadership debate.

When quizzed about Boris Johnson, only Tom Tugendhat directly said he did not believe the outgoing prime minister was honest.

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When asked outright, Ms Badenoch said he was "sometimes" honest, whilst Ms Mordaunt said he has "paid a price" for "some really severe issues" with his premiership.

Mr Sunak said he "tried to give him the benefit of the doubt" and admitted honesty was one of the reasons he resigned, whilst Ms Truss said Mr Johnson "has been very clear that he made mistakes in government".

Mr Tugendhat, however, simply said: "No."

Ms Mordaunt then clashed with Ms Badenoch over past stances on gender identity rights.

Ms Mordaunt, a former women and equalities minister, said while she had carried out a consultation of the Gender Recognition Act, she had "never been in favour of self-ID".

"I can't imagine why people are not comprehending what I say and have been regurgitating this issue for weeks and weeks, but I'm happy to state my position and evidence to back it up," she said.

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When asked whether she accepted this, Ms Badenoch, who was equalities minister until she resigned this month, said: "I find it difficult to, because when I took over as equalities minister in 2020, the policy that was being pushed was self-ID.

"I didn't work with Penny, but my understanding was that the previous minister who had done the role had wanted self-ID, and that was something that I reversed with Liz."

Ms Truss refused to clarify whether she thought Ms Mordaunt's stance on gender-ID has changed.

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The economy was also a key point of contention during Friday's debate, with Mr Sunak levelling attacks against both Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss over their plans to introduce tax cuts.

Mr Sunak told Ms Truss that "borrowing your way out of inflation" is a "fairytale".

Ms Truss responded: "I think it is wrong to put taxes up."

She added: "We have inflation because of our monetary policy, that we haven't been tough enough on the monetary supply, that's the way that I would address that issue."

Mr Sunak also attacked Ms Mordaunt's "double-digit billion pound promises".

The international trade minister has promised to cut VAT on fuel and increase income tax thresholds in line with inflation - something Mr Sunak said would cost around £15 billion.

Ms Mordaunt said: "My economic platform is not based on tax and spend, it's based on growth and competition."

Climate change was discussed at the very end of the debate.

The Government is currently working towards a target to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050 - but Kemi Badenoch said she would not commit to that pledge, becoming the only candidate to do so.

She dismissed international environment minister Lord Goldsmith's warning that it would be "political suicide" to drop the 2050 net zero target.

She said: "I think he's wrong.

"The pledge was made in 2018 for 2050, none of us are going to be here as politicians in 2050, it's very easy to set a target you are not going to be responsible and accountable for when the time comes.

"The important thing is to make sure that we do this in a sustainable way.

"Many of the things we are doing could economically damage our country."