Politics

The three major issues in Penny Mordaunt's Tory leadership campaign video

The three major issues in Penny Mordaunt's Tory leadership campaign video
Penny Mordaunt launches Tory leadership bid with video featuring Boris Johnson
Penny Mordaunt

Former defence secretary and paymaster general Penny Mordaunt formally announced her desire to become the next leader of the Conservative Party on Sunday, complete with a fancy, patriotic video setting out her priorities.

Stating the obvious by saying “leadership has to change”, the more than three-minute long video concludes with the Royal Navy reservist making a boat analogy.

“It needs to become a little less about the leader, and a lot more about the ship,” she said.

A shipwreck, more like, as the video has already been hit by controversy just short of three hours after it was published on social media.

With the video featuring several high-profile individuals, one of them has already responded to the clip to request that he is removed from the promotional material.

Paralympian Jonnie Peacock wrote: “I officially request to be removed from this video… Anything but blue please.”

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The runner has already been praised for his views on the matter:

And of course, it gets worse, as another face featured in the campaign video is a police officer, with the Mirror’s political correspondent Rachel Wearmouth pointing out the rules on impartiality for UK coppers:

It’s laid out clearly in the College of Policing’s Code of Ethics, which reads: “Police officers must not take any active part in politics. This is intended to prevent you from placing yourself in a position where your impartiality may be questioned.”

Emphasis on the second sentence there, Penny.

Oh, and have we mentioned the part of the video where convicted Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is seen talking to Mr Peacock?

A reminder: Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison – later increased to 13 years and five months – back in 2013 for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkemp, who he shot dead on Valentine’s Day.

At just after 2:30pm on Sunday, Ms Mordaunt appeared to repost the video with Mr Peacock and Pistorious's sections removed, and replaced with footage of UK landmarks and an aeroplane.

Indy100 has approached Penny Mordaunt’s team for comment.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)
x