Champion sprinter demands pic axed from Tory hopeful Penny Mordaunt's campaign video

10 July 2022, 15:39 | Updated: 20 October 2022, 13:51

Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt has suffered an early blow after champion sprinter Jonnie Peacock asked for his image to be removed from her campaign video.

The Team GB Paralympic gold medallist tweeted "anything but blue please" as he "officially requested" to be removed from the video released by the former defence secretary.

The three-minute clip featured footage of the 29-year-old competing at London in 2012.

In a tweet, he said: "I officially request to be removed from this video…. Anything but blue please".

Viewers have also pointed out that the video shows convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius - in a further blow to the Tory MP.

The video includes scenes of a grinning Pistorius - filmed two years before he was convicted for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Ms Mordaunt was criticised online for using the footage, and was also slammed for "using the memory of Jo Cox to further her own personal brand and career".

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Some viewers branded the footage "distasteful" and "disgusting".

Dan Crawford, a Labour councillor in Ealing, tweeted: "Bold to feature Oscar Pistorius in the video that launches your leadership campaign, Penny.

"Very Conservative Party, 2022. That's not the only problem, of course, but it is hilarious."

Another user added: "I don’t know how it isn’t a sketch or parody."

Ms Mordaunt has since uploaded a new version of her leadership campaign video.

The new version, free of both clips of Pistorius and Jonnie, features a voice over from Ms Mordaunt herself.

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Just over five hours later, Ms Mordaunt posted an amended version of the video to her Twitter.

The clips of Peacock were replaced with a plane flying over the camera.

Several other elements of her original campaign video were also altered in the second video.

A smiling police officer, clearly identifiable, was removed and replaced with a clip of a tractor driving through a field.

Cricketer Jonny Bairstow could be seen in the original video but was replaced by the Angel Of The North sculpture in the follow-up.

In the original video, a clip of the Welsh football team celebrating its win over Ukraine in June directly followed Bairstow. This too was removed in the second video.

A clip of soldiers wearing a uniform not associated with the British armed forces also featured in the original video but was replaced with some footage of Westminster.

Video from an interview with Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the British co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, was replaced with more generic footage of healthcare staff.

"Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship,” she says.

Ms Mordaunt launched her leadership bid on Sunday, becoming the ninth Tory to run for prime minister.

She joined the likes of former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and former minister Jeremy Hunt in the race to replace Boris Johnson.

The MP for Portsmouth North said "our leadership has to change" as she launched her 'pm4pm' campaign on Twitter.

"It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship," she wrote.

The Brexit-backing trade minister has said on her campaign website the Conservative Party was elected to "deliver a manifesto".

Ms Mordaunt played a prominent role in the Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, and has previously reportedly enjoyed the backing of Dame Andrea Leadsom among others.

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has described her as "socially liberal".