Portsmouth MP given new government role

A PORTSMOUTH MP has been given a new role in government.Conservative Penny Mordaunt has been appointed as minister of state at the Department for Work and Pensions by the new prime minister Theresa May.Ms Mordaunt will be moving over from the Ministry of Defence, where she served as armed forces minister, to work with new work and pensions secretary Damian Green.Mike Penning MP will be replacing her as armed forces Minister.Ms Mordaunt, the Portsmouth North MP, had backed Theresa May's opponent, Andrea Leadsom, in the Tory leadership race until the former finance director quit her campaign following controversy over comments about motherhood.Ms Mordaunt, a strong campaigner for Brexit, had said that Leadsom was the '˜person who can bring the country together'.