Who is popular today?

Even some of her political opponents back the Portsmouth North MP in the race to succeed JohnsonThe thick stone battlements that guard the entrance to Portsmouth’s ancient harbour bake in the late afternoon heat. Teenage couples lounge on the sun-bleached walls and elderly couples share ice creams on the shaded benches while giant cross-Channel ferries chug past. Yet 40 years ago very different scenes inspired a young Penny Mordaunt – one of the city’s two MPs – into politics. She joined hundreds of well-wishers and service families watching Margaret Thatcher’s naval taskforce set sail for the Falklands. It was this moment – according to her carefully curated biography for the Tory faithful – that set her on a political path that could lead to No 10 in less than two months.Mordaunt’s sudden rise to bookies’ favourite has shocked many seasoned political observers – and the wider public, which knows little of the MP for Portsmouth North. But her local supporters and even some of her political opponents in the densely populated island city which has shaped her political career are not surprised by her emergence as the members’ top choice in the race to succeed Boris Johnson. Continue reading...