Theo Clarke: Why I am backing Penny Mordaunt
2 min read
I’ve known Penny Mordaunt for many years, well before I was elected as an MP. I know her, I know the kind of woman she is, and I’ve seen first-hand her commitment to our party and to our country.
Penny is the compassionate, warm and approachable person we need to lead our country at a challenging time like this. She has an outstanding record of competence and delivery, looking after overseas aid and then as the first ever female Secretary of State for Defence. I worked with Penny in my role as a trade envoy and I’ve seen at first hand her tireless commitment to making our Global Britain strategy a reality and to delivering trade deals which will boost prosperity for all of us.
She has a positive and comprehensive plan for Britain, and her values – the values that inform and underpin that plan – are based on the decency and integrity I see in her. It’s the same decency and integrity that you find in communities up and down the United Kingdom.
Only a committed and genuine Brexiteer like Penny can be trusted to deliver what the people voted for and make Brexit a success
I welcome Penny’s relentless focus on the cost of living crisis, which is such an important concern for my constituents. She has already announced policies which will address this. She will give each family a childcare budget which can be used in whatever way is best for them, rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all model, giving them both flexibility and freedom of choice.
Penny has also promised to cut fuel duty in half. This would be an immediate step to help people struggling to get to work or take their children to school, giving them real financial help where it will make a difference.
We need a leader with a profound and coherent vision for Britain. Penny has demonstrated that she has that. Her speech at the launch of her campaign showed the priorities which her government would focus on, but, more than that, it showed leadership. Penny Mordaunt looks like someone who is ready to be Prime Minister, ready to take control and begin the business of governing without delay.
This election is also about trust. I represent a constituency that voted Leave, and I know that only a committed and genuine Brexiteer like Penny can be trusted to continue to deliver what the people voted for and to make Brexit a success.
Theo Clarke is the Conservative MP for Stafford.
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