You can feel sorry for her, that Penny Mordaunt. For the second time she had applied for the highest post in the kingdom and still no one knows who this woman is. A week ago she was poised to become the highly regarded number two in the election campaign alongside Rishi Sunak, the top candidate and now Britain’s third prime minister this year. Who knows, Penny might even have gotten the 100 MP votes needed to officially run. But then Boris Johnson came along and nobody talked about Penny Mordaunt anymore.

Access to all STERN PLUS content and articles from the print magazine

ad-free

Already registered?