Everything 'fell into place' for Mordaunt but she still has questions to answer, says Marr

13 July 2022, 18:10 | Updated: 20 October 2022, 13:49

Tory leadership contest: Andrew Marr says Penny Mordaunt

Everything has 'fallen into place' for Tory leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt on Wednesday but she still has "questions to answer", Andrew Marr has said.

In his opening monologue, Andrew said: "There are days, aren’t there, when everything just seems to fall right.

"The toast jumps from the toaster, perfectly browned.

"The bus arrives at the bus stop ten seconds after you do.

"That grumpy bloke at work buys you a coffee and smiles.

"And so it has been today for Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt.

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"Item. Morning press conference launching her campaign at which she actually takes questions from journalists, and it goes rather well.

"Item. Little knots of Tory MPs hanging round the Commons coffee bar saying, 'd’you know what, think I’m rather leaning to Penny'. This is what we call momentum.

"Item. An opinion poll by YouGov of Tory members arrives, showing she would beat all other candidates very easily - for instance 67 per cent to 28 per cent against Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor. She would also beat Liz Truss the Foreign Secretary.

"Perfect for Penny, this information arrives just as Tory MPs are about to vote in the first round of the parliamentary contest. And in it, she comes a strong second, with 67 supporters, against 88 for Rishi Sunak. Lots of voting still ahead, but nicely placed.

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"But before Penny Mordaunt puts on Lou Reed’s Perfect Day and pours herself a stiff one, she should remember that it’s just when you are sauntering along, gazing up at a sunlit sky, that you’re likeliest to trip and fall - and also, that when you’re getting ahead in a race like this one, you immediately make yourself everybody else's prime target.

"So the other campaigns are already manoeuvring to stop Mordaunt - and they need to.

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"On a show like this I owe you my judgement even if sometimes I make a fool of myself; and it seems to me that the Tory membership - relatively older, more male, more white, more southern - would look at a very direct-talking, amusing, pro-Brexit woman with Royal Navy experience and think, after the Boris Johnson years, 'yes, she’s the one for me'.

"Now, if I was sounding very pro Penny Mordaunt let me also add she’s got some big questions still to answer.

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"All I'm saying is that, looking at what has happened at Westminster today, she might even be Prime Minister by the time she does answer them.

"I'm going to be joined in the studio later by Simon Hart, the former Welsh secretary who is backing Rishi Sunak - the former Chancellor who is today in the lead but who knows for how much longer - and the political editor of The Sunday Telegraph Edward Malnick. A little later on Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party, joins me for his first broadcast interview during this campaign.

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"But before all of that, a reflection on today's vote.

"In the last six candidates to be leader of the Conservative Party there are two women of colour and three women as against just one white man.

"And that one white man, by the way, Tom Tugenhat, has mixed Austrian and French descent.

"Diverse? No other main party in Britain can compare.

"But the other question is whether Rishi Sunak has already peaked or whether he can squeeze many more votes out of the other campaigns."