Who is Penny Mordaunt?

Penny Mordaunt was appointed Lord President of the Council, and Leader of the House of Commons, on 6 September 2022.

She has worked in politics for over 20 years and even went on ITV's Splash! Here's everything you need to know.

Penny Mordaunt was born on March 4, 1973, in Torquay, Devon.

She graduated from the University of Reading in 1995 with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy.

While still at university she married Paul Murray but the pair divorced just a year later.

She now lives with her long-term partner Ian Lyon, who works as a classical singer.

Penny has a particular love of cats and breeds Burmese kittens at the couple's home.

Ms Mordaunt was briefly the Head of Foreign Press for George W Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000.

What we know about Penny Mordaunt's former husband Paul Murray

She entered British politics in the 2005 general elections, where she lost by 1,139 votes in Portsmouth North, running for the Conservative Party.

In the 2010 general election, Ms Mordaunt was elected the MP for Portsmouth North and she was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.

Her previous positions include:

Paymaster General (2020), leading resilience work overhauling how the UK prepares and responds to threats and has bolstered the UKs defensive cyber security
Secretary of State for Defence (2019), the first woman to hold the post
Secretary of State for International Development (2017)
Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (2016)
Minister for the Armed Forces (2015), the first woman to hold this position
Minister of Local Government (2014)

She is also a former Governor at the World Bank.

Ms Mordaunt pushed for the UK to leave the EU as part of the Leave campaign. She helped campaign for Brexit in the lead-up to the referendum.

In 2014, Penny appeared on the reality TV programme Splash!

The show featured celebrities learning how to dive and was fronted by Olympic diver Tom Daley.

She received criticism for appearing on the show saying she should have focused on her constituency work.

Ms Mordaunt defended herself saying she would donate her £10,000 appearance fee to charity, which she did.

She is most remembered for a painful looking belly-flop while on the show.

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Penny came ninth on the show out of 20 contestants, the winner was Diversity dancer Perri Kiely.

The show was axed after two seasons.

According to Apumone, Minister Penny Mordaunt has a net worth of $4 million (£3.3 million).

Her main source of income is said to come from her role in parliament as the Minister of State for Trade, an influential jobs in politics.