Had things been just a little different during the Tory leadership campaign, it might well be Penny Mordaunt swanning around Birmingham as prime minister, and Liz Truss her awkward colleague in cabinet.
There was a nasty rumour, never verified but plausible, that the Rishi Sunak campaign strategically “lent” some of its supporters to Ms Truss, in the belief that Ms Truss was unelectable and much easier to beat than Ms Mordaunt in the final round of the contest involving party members. That was only half-right, as the country and the party now know to their cost.
After Ms Truss became leader, Ms Mordaunt, as lively and original as Ms Truss is wooden and predictable, was rewarded for her third place in the leadership election with the relatively lowly post of leader of the House of Commons, rather than a great office of state. Ms Mordaunt could be forgiven for wondering how things might have been in recent weeks if she’d been entrusted with the Treasury, rather than the overconfident and underprepared Kwasi Kwarteng. On the conference fringe, she pointed out that her government’s policies were fine, but not so much the “comms”. Now, it seems, she’s not so sure about policy.
