Penny Mordaunt’s trans problem

The Tory leadership contest is yet to officially begin, but things are already turning nasty. As well as reports in the papers of dirty dossiers on candidates, Tory grandees have come out to call for a ceasefire in which Boris Johnson loyalists stop attacking Rishi Sunak. Now a row has broken out over Penny Mordaunt’s candidacy. The former defence secretary announced this weekend that she will be running for leader – storming into second place on MP support.

On announcing the news, Mordaunt took to social media to try to address one of the biggest criticisms facing her when it comes to the contest: that she is too ‘woke’. The allegations regard trans rights after she said in 2018 that ‘trans women are women and trans men are men’. In response to her critics, Mordaunt pointed to a track record defending women’s rights: ‘It was me that changed maternity legislation that was drafted in gender neutral language ( by another) to use female terms.