Penny Morduant - the art of light-touch loyalty

[speckyget]

I do find it interesting in that during PMQs she is always quite ‘dignified’ in that she doesn’t get involved in all the cheering and jeering that the other Tory front bench do.

I always think she looks extraordinarily pi55ed off. Probably because some little guy is sat in her seat.

 

[North22]

I always think she looks extraordinarily pi55ed off. Probably because some little guy is sniffing her seat.

 

[The_Unicorn]

I had to google what a matelot was. No I'm not a sailor. Apologies if my last post wasn't clear, it's Penny Mordaunt who has the Royal Navy background, not me.

Oops

 

[Jedi boro]

Royal navy background as well.

Don’t we know it

You’d think she was lord nelson the way the tories bang on about it.

 

[Zoophonic]

Is it a worldwide lurch though? Or jsut Europe and north America? Could be a reaction to the balance of economic power swinging back East?

Argentina went off to the right. You could say NZ did last year too.

 

[SmallTown]

Argentina went off to the right. You could say NZ did last year too.

Ah interesting kind of a western thing then

 

[Ex Footy Legs]

She 'doesn't want to dignify the rumours' by speaking out - yeah, right. The knife is glinting in her hand! And then it will be 'Well, others put me forward, but when it became inevitable there was going to be a challenge from somewhere...'

Have to say, she's long been my biggest fear, to the point where I avoided talking about it in case of jinxing things. Nice prettyish not-posh Penny the swimsuit model. Not very right-wing, just the type to get the Daily Mail in a lather and all the quiet Tory types back into the fold. Hopefully the brand is just too busted that they could actually win, but Starmer's appeal is brittle. With a fair wind and the inevitable fawning Press, it's not surprising the Tories see her as their last chance...

Totally agree.
She’s my worst fear too. Hopefully it’s just too late even if they did shoe her in.
What I’m convinced of though is she is a deviant.
Worse even than Cameron who was a deviant, this woman is even more dangerous. Like, push a big N button crazy. She’s desperate for attention and status and power, you’ve obviously been observing her - me too for quite some time and dangerous is very apt.
She’s more about power and money and how that is acquired is of no consequence.

 

[Scrote]

How did the world come to this. Trump, Le Penn, various other Right wing politicians making headway in the polls. I agree that Labour needs to get it right otherwise in 5 years time we could be in real trouble with the next lot of Tories.

I'd imagine it's largely to do with the people that feel they've been ignored by mainstream politics.

As with Brexit and Anti-Vax, it's largely to do with feeling empowered and heard. The finer points of the politics doesn't matter and the headline stuff, around immigrants taking jobs; immigrants getting free stuff; immigrants running riot etc. is appealing on a superficial level. Everything is someone elses fault and the right-wing will sort it all out.

It's much harder to explain problems properly and then offer longer-term solutions - and no-one wants to try for fear of being labelled as lefty-liberals.

Much of the problem the left have with Labour is that they're just following the prevailing narratives instead of confronting the issues head-on. It's political cowardice and it can easily backfire.

 

[sherlock]

Royal navy background as well.

 

[Lefty]

I was chatting to someone who knows her really well. She has a good sense of humour and is a pretty decent person overall, according to him.

I wonder if it is another case of the system we have in our frontline politics, the whipping, the media, the disproportionate power of a rather extreme Tory base, that makes some of these Tory MP's do or say some ill judged insincere things.

Sayeeda Warsi was appalling in government, as was Soubry and Javid, but once they are out of the cabinet or no longer have ambitions to get there, they suddenly seem like reasonable people rather than complete strangers to decency, empathy and compassion.

 

[Archiestephens_elbow]

Id rather vote for the lettuce

 

[Unravel_Morrison]

I was chatting to someone who knows her really well. She has a good sense of humour and is a pretty decent person overall, according to him.

I wonder if it is another case of the system we have in our frontline politics, the whipping, the media, the disproportionate power of a rather extreme Tory base, that makes some of these Tory MP's do or say some ill judged insincere things.

Sayeeda Warsi was appalling in government, as was Soubry and Javid, but once they are out of the cabinet or no longer have ambitions to get there, they suddenly seem like reasonable people rather than complete strangers to decency, empathy and compassion.

This is a bit niche, but they're like WWE wrestlers who come back. They get the 'pop' on their return and then a minute later you realise that they were terrible and you don't like them.

 

[FabioPorkpie]

I work with some people who worked in her private office when she was a minister in my department. She is very well thought of and only ever heard good things about her. Shallow and superficial being as far away from them as I could describe.

I spoke with Anna Turley in Rita's a couple of times and last time was during the tory leadership campaign (the truss one)... she said Mordaunt was the one candidate that Labour did not want to win.

I worked with someone whose Mam worked in George Osbornes private office, and she said he was an absolutely lovely man, nicest politician around.
And yet he still pushed austerity and ****ed public services and the country and laid the way for the **** show that followed so

 

[Geoff_B]

I was chatting to someone who knows her really well. She has a good sense of humour and is a pretty decent person overall, according to him.

I wonder if it is another case of the system we have in our frontline politics, the whipping, the media, the disproportionate power of a rather extreme Tory base, that makes some of these Tory MP's do or say some ill judged insincere things.

Sayeeda Warsi was appalling in government, as was Soubry and Javid, but once they are out of the cabinet or no longer have ambitions to get there, they suddenly seem like reasonable people rather than complete strangers to decency, empathy and compassion.

Almost word for word people who I know who worked for her say, especially the sense of humour.

She once accepted an offer to go on the last leg as she thought it would be fun, I believe she had to be persuaded not to go. Another comment was she just says whatever she feels like, which I think that had her advisors rather worried what she might say.

 

[FabioPorkpie]

decency, empathy and compassion.

That they completely abandon those qualities while in office shows the true nature of these people. Don’t be fooled because they politely say ‘good morning’ to the little guy or say thankyou when they get a cup of tea. They are still what they are….

 

[Geoff_B]

I worked with someone whose Mam worked on George Osbornes private office, and she said he was an absolutely lovely man, nicest politician around.
And yet he still pushed austerity and ****ed public services and the country and laid the way for the **** show that followed so

Thats political ideology, it what he believes in as a Tory.

Their are posts describing Mourdaunt as all sorts, deviant, desperate for attention, status, power with no insight whatsoever.

Nothing wrong with given some insight into somebody, as opposed to just making stuff about their personality

 

[Lefty]

Since Cameron was re-elected we have had the following Leaders of the House of Commons

Chris Grayling
David Lidington
Andrea Leadsom
Mel Stride
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Mark Spencer

She is a light years better than all of those, except maybe Mel Stride.

 

[Lefty]

That they completely abandon those qualities while in office shows the true nature of these people. Don’t be fooled because they politely say ‘good morning’ to the little guy or say thankyou when they get a cup of tea. They are still what they are….

I'm not fooled that there are quite a lot of issues I disagree with most Tories on, but you do have to take in to account the whipping system and collective responsibility of cabinet.

 

[FabioPorkpie]

Thats political ideology, it what he believes in as a Tory.

Their are posts describing Mourdaunt as all sorts, deviant, desperate for attention, status, power with no insight whatsoever.

Nothing wrong with given some insight into somebody, as opposed to just making stuff about their personality

That’s very true, but I’m sure there are normal folk out there who would say exactly the same nice things about the likes of Johnson, or Farage, and wholeheartedly mean them. Means nothing ultimately.
I prefer to judge them on the things they do say in public and their actions, the things that we do actually see, and can measure, rather than hearsay.
‘I’ve heard from someone who knows someone that she’s a lovely lass really, great laugh apparently, nice to her staff etc’ type stuff means nothing, ultimately, interesting though it is.

If she was so nice her moral compass and principles and decency wouldn’t have allowed her to have had anything to do with the worst government of charlatans, chancers, grifters and criminals in history, imo.

 

[FabioPorkpie]

I'm not fooled that there are quite a lot of issues I disagree with most Tories on, but you do have to take in to account the whipping system and collective responsibility of cabinet.

Yep, I agree to an extent, which is why I can’t put too much stock in an individual MPs voting record as a stick to beat them with, when clearly it’s not as black and white as just defying the whip every time.