Who is Penny Mordaunt, the ex-magician’s assistant looking to conjure up victory in PM race?
Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader and a former magician’s assistant, will be looking to conjure up the necessary support and pull victory out of a hat in her second bid to become prime minister.
Ms Mordaunt, who has earned a reputation as a competent performer at the despatch box, has said she would “keep calm and carry on” and urged others to do the same after Liz Truss’s resignation.
Popular with Tory activists, she has long nurtured prime ministerial ambitions, fellow MPs claim, relentlessly working the “rubber chicken circuit” of charity dinners and party events to court the grassroots since being elected to her Portsmouth North seat in 2010.
Ms Mordaunt, who has held cabinet posts, including defence secretary, ran to replace Boris Johnson in the first Conservative leadership race with the pithy slogan PM 4 PM.
During that campaign, the Royal Navy reservist, said leadership “needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship”.
She came third, narrowly missing out on a place in the head-to-head stage, in which she backed Ms Truss over Rishi Sunak.
Named after the Navy cruiser HMS Penelope
Although she has previously faced accusations about her lack of profile outside politics, this changed after the Queen’s death when as Lord President of the Council she played a central role in proceedings in which Charles was proclaimed King.
Born in Torquay in March 1973, Ms Mordaunt’s history with the Armed Forces goes back to day one – when she says she was named after the Navy cruiser HMS Penelope.
Her father John served in the Parachute Regiment before retraining as a teacher and youth worker, and her mother Jennifer worked as a special needs teacher.
She grew up in Hampshire with her twin brother James and younger brother Edward.
Penny Mordaunt was the UK’s first-ever female defence secretary
When she was 15 her mother died of breast cancer and she became her younger brother’s primary carer until her father remarried when she was 18.
On leaving home, she went to Romania for a gap year during which she worked in orphanages and hospitals after the 1989 revolution that toppled the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.
Crediting those experiences with wanting to go into politics, she returned to the UK to study philosophy at the University of Reading, where she became president of the students’ union.
To fund her studies, she worked in a Johnson & Johnson factory and as a magician’s assistant to the president of the Portsmouth Magical Society and British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
Worked on presidential campaign
She subsequently worked on George W Bush’s presidential campaigns and was a Conservative party staffer during William Hague’s leadership before branching out into the charity sector.
Winning the Portsmouth North constituency from Labour in 2010, one of her first claims to fame was an appearance on Tom Daley’s reality TV diving show Splash in 2014.
Told by judges she had the “elegance and drive of a paving slab” and criticised by her Labour rivals for not focusing on her day job, she claimed she did it so she could donate most of her £10,000 fee to saving a lido in her constituency.
She also raised eyebrows for a Commons speech in which she squeezed in repeated references to a rude word in a speech about poultry welfare – said to be part of a military bet – leading to accusations of “trivialising parliament”.
On Tom Daley’s reality TV diving show Splash in 2014. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
As a minister for local government, she caused further controversy when she got into a row with the Fire Brigades Union, which claimed she had “misled MPs” over assurances that firefighters would not have their pensions reduced if they failed fitness tests.
The dispute resulted in strike action.
A prominent Brexiteer, during the 2016 EU referendum campaign she made headlines for falsely claiming during an interview that the UK would not be able to stop Turkey from becoming a member of the bloc.
In 2017 when Priti Patel was forced to resign as international development secretary over undeclared meetings with Israeli officials, Ms Mordaunt replaced her.
She added women and equalities minister to her brief in 2018.
That year she was applauded in the Commons for being the first MP to ever use sign language at the despatch box.
The MP campaigned with Boris Johnson for Brexit
She made history again in 2019 when Theresa May made her the UK’s first-ever female defence secretary.
But she only served for 85 days before Boris Johnson punished her for backing his rival Jeremy Hunt in the Tory leadership contest and demoted her.
Last year she published a book outlining her hopes for post-Brexit Britain.
Ms Mordaunt said it was only through writing it that she realised she was dyslexic and was formally diagnosed.
Trans rights criticism
She has also come under scrutiny over her record on trans rights and self-identification, with critics accusing her of being “too woke”.
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‘A woman like me doesn’t have a Willie’
While serving as women and equalities minister, she publicly stated that “trans women are women and trans men are men”.
She also came under fire for opting to replace the words “woman” and “mother” with “person” in maternity leave legislation.
‘I am biologically a woman’
However, she had also faced claims she has abandoned her support of the trans community for the sake of her political career.
At her previous campaign launch she said: “I am a woman, I am biologically a woman.
“And I can tell you that if you have been in the Royal Navy and competed against men, you understand the biological difference between men and women.”
During the bitter leadership contest, Ms Mordaunt had doubt cast on her ministerial commitment by her own boss.
She later joked she was “amazed” to be back at the Commons despatch box given her “reported work ethic”.
A member of the British Astronomical Association, she has four Burmese cats.
She will now be looking to magic a win in her second tilt at the leadership and ensure her campaign does not end up a vanishing act.
World
Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners
A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.
The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.
Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.
It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.
The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.
Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.
Relatives of miners and community members wait at the mine shaft. Pic: AP
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.
An aerial view of a mineshaft. Pic: AP
Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.
In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.
Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.
Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.
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Relatives of miners and community members wait near the mine shaft. Pic: AP
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The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.
Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.
Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.
World
Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’
In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.
We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.
The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.
They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.
War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’
The captain known by his men as ‘Genius’
In the summer, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory, in Kursk
Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.
Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.
He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.
His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.
Captain Sasha Shyrshyn and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay
‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’
Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.
We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.
“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.
He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.
Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.
Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.
“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.
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‘The world is scared of Russia’
It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.
The disguised American Bradley vehicle hidden in the forest
Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.
A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.
He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.
“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”
The American Bradley fighting vehicle that Ukrainian soldiers have found vital in their efforts
Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.
Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.
If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.
US President-elect Donald Trump has been clear he intends to change his nation’s policy on the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.
“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”
Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.
He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.
“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.
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‘Losing will be not only our problem’
These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.
Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.
Barbed wire rolled out in the Sumy region ahead of expected fighting
Tank traps in the Sumy region
Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.
“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.
But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.
“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”
Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.
A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.
The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.
Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.
The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.
Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.
All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.
Pic: Jamie Marchant
Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.
Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.
“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.
Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.
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The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.
Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.
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