Penny Mordaunt claims 70-plus Tory association visits are to help the party

It was a finding that raised eyebrows about leadership ambitions: Penny Mordaunt had visited 40 Tory associations across the country since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.

Now, Ms Mordaunt, the House of Commons Leader, has written to The Telegraph with an urgent clarification: The real figure is actually more than 70.

In a letter published in today’s newspaper, Ms Mordaunt mounts a defence of the trips, arguing they are helping see off the electoral threat from Labour at the next election.

She also notes that her visits have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for candidates standing for election to be MPs or councillors.

The response followed a report in Saturday’s Telegraph which revealed the 40 visits, based on public postings on local association websites and social media accounts.

It showed that Ms Mordaunt, who generated headlines for holding the sword of state aloft during the coronation of King Charles, had been auctioning off signed wooden swords.

But tongues are not likely to stop wagging at the news she has actually been on more than 70 such trips since Mr Sunak became leader in October 2022.

That means Ms Mordaunt’s stop-bys at local Tory associations are not happening every 13 days on average, as The Telegraph first calculated, but actually more like every week.

Wagging tongues

Ms Mordaunt writes in her letter: “I am writing to correct a couple of inaccuracies in the article: Mordaunt has made 40 trips to Tory associations events since Sunak became PM, 22/3/2024.

“In fact, I have made over 70 such visits, excluding those made in a ministerial capacity and any fundraising and campaigning organised by Conservative Central Office.

“I am pleased to have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for our prospective candidates, incumbent MPs and local associations, and I intend to continue such visits in the coming weeks and months.

“I’ll be right there with them, campaigning on the doorstep and lending my support to ensure these fine people secure their seats in Parliament.

“My motivation for doing so is straightforward – to support the campaign frontline against the threat of a Labour government.

“Should Labour get back into power we can expect to see the undermining of Nato via an EU defence pact, the unpicking of decades of trade union reform, the clobbering of our businesses by new red tape and greater taxation, the erosion of our educational standards, cuts to the NHS budget and for all the nonsense and maladministration so evident in Wales and London to be inflicted on the British people further and worse.”

The Commons Leader is seen as one of the frontrunners should Tory MPs move to try and replace Mr Sunak before the election, something Number 10 insiders dismiss as idle speculation.

Ms Mordaunt’s team have consistently waved away such ideas themselves, arguing that she remains committed to Mr Sunak and the government in which she serves.