Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, has added women and equalities to her brief. This comes after Amber Rudd who held the role previously, resigned from her position as Home Secretary following the Windrush disaster. But who is Penny Mordaunt? She is a relatively unknown MP despite a TV appearance on ITV’s Splash, where she only managed a painful belly flop. She also supported to leave the EU.
For her brief as equalities, you generally hope that she has a positive voting record towards issues involving equality but unfortunately, there does seem to be some lax in that area but it is better than most Conservative MPs.
Suitable replacement?
She has voted 6 times in favour of gay marriage and been a consistent voter in favour of equal gay rights, voting 7 times. However, she has Generally voted against laws to promote equality and human rights, voting against them 5 times. She has also voted against the right to remain for EU nationals who already live in the EU, voting against them 13 times. She has been a consistent voter against fairer welfare increases and voted in favour for the bedroom tax. She has also been a consistent voter on a stricter Asylum system and a stronger enforcement of the immigration rules.
She has been given the role of equalities to her portfolio but has constantly voted against minority groups in the UK.
She will be paraded as a moderate because of her votes in favour of gay marriage and equal gay rights but this is just a smokescreen to hide the fact that she is the same as the other Conservative MPs who have racism deeply ingrained into their political thinking.
