Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt: How has she voted in Parliament, how has she supported Portsmouth, what does she believe in, and what would she be like as prime minister

As Ms Mordaunt continues to move forward in the Conservative Party leadership contest, increasing attention is being paid to her upbringing and her more colorful exploits, both before and after entering politics.

Journalists from The News who have dealt with the MP for years have revealed a ‘practical, selfless, focused and hard working’ politician who is a force to be reckoned with.

When questioned about their knowledge of the Tory MP, city residents have consistently made positive remarks – but few have been confident about where she stands on key issues and her core beliefs.

So what does Ms Mordaunt stand for?

Since launching her campaign to become prime minister, the trade minister has said she would ‘slash’ VAT on fuel at the pumps, raise the tax thresholds for lower earners, and scrap green levies, which subsidise home insulation and other measures to reduce energy use.

It’s a long way from the early parliamentary work of the Royal Navy reservist – who started her career as an MP by calling for the navy’s flagship aircraft carrier to be called ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Ark Royal’, aiming to preserve a historic naval name.

Since then, the daughter of a special needs teacher has called for better provisions for people with learning disabilities in the city, and fought the closure of the G5 ward in Queen Alexandra Hospital.

The MP – who appeared on TV diving contest Splash! – has also championed the redevelopment of the Hilsea Lido, and her opposition to an underwater power cable from France to Portsmouth had the scheme’s boss label her an ‘absolutely uncontrollable woman’.

But in parliament, Ms Mordaunt has given her party’s whips no such trouble – as her voting record shows that she has hardly ever rebelled against the Conservative Party.

Voting against taxes on expensive homes, voting against increasing the tax rate on incomes above £150,000, voting to reduce welfare, and voting against benefits increasing in line with prices – Ms Mordaunt toed the party line through out the last decade of austerity.

Her allegiance to the party has seen her supporting some controversial decisions – such as voting to increase tuition fees, voting to privatise British forests, and consistently voting for military action against Isis. She has also aired her support for allowing smoking rooms in pubs and tearing apart the fox hunting ban.

And she knows when to change tack to stay in the mainstream.

‘Everyone is supporting the prime minister to get the best possible deal he can for the ‘in’ option,’ Ms Mordaunt said in February 2016, as the Brexit referendum approached. She added: ‘I'm absolutely supporting the prime minister as he tries to get agreement on these issues.’

But she was willing to stand against the former prime minister David Cameron just months later, with her campaigning for the Leave camp during the 2016 referendum, which included her claim that the UK would not have been able veto Turkey joining the European Union.

Legally, the UK would have a veto – but Ms Mordaunt claims that Mr Cameron’s pledges would have made its use impossible.

But when the referendum was over, the result was a continuation of her quietly sailing with the current of her party, her constituency, and popular sentiment.

So how will she handle the rancour and antagonism that stalks high office?

Since the beginning of the leadership contest, Ms Mordaunt has found herself under fire over her views on trans people.

While serving as equalities minister in 2018, Ms Mordaunt said ‘trans women are women and trans men are men’ and pledged to do more so that ‘LGBT people can thrive in the UK’.

But when challenged recently by Conservative commentators, the MP perhaps sensed her campaign could run aground thanks to her previous comments.

She tweeted: ‘Some people born male and who have been through the gender recognition process are also legally female.

She added :’That DOES NOT mean they are biological women, like me.’

Until this point, the MP has largely avoided needing to set the record straight on the national stage.

Even as knives were sharpened for Boris Johnson’s back, Ms Mordaunt responded to the collapse of the government by telling The News that ‘some of us do need to keep things running – that’s what I am doing’.

It was an early expression of her pitch to the nation: that leadership needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.

But if she is to stand on the quarterdeck of the nation, Ms Mordaunt will find the conversation increasingly focus on the course she would set as captain.