Penny Mordaunt: ‘Tories turbo-charged independence support in Scotland’

Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt has accused her own party of “turbo-charging” Scottish nationalism since devolution.

The international trade ­minister and frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson last week told supporters she had what it takes to break the SNP’s “yellow wall” and help the Conservatives take power in Scotland.

But in a book she wrote last year, which was endorsed by Bill Gates, Sir Tony Blair and senior Tories, she said Scots felt abandoned by Westminster.

She wrote: “Scottish ­nationalism grew up under Labour, digging in further post-devolution. It was turbo-charged when the Conservatives came to power. There is a strong anti-Westminster feeling in Scotland fuelled by what is on offer. It appears to lack understanding. Its priorities appear different. It appears obsessed with metropolitan matters. It is not loved. It is not even trusted.”

Her book Greater: Britain After the Storm, co-written by marketing expert Chris Lewis, sets out a vision for the country after the Covid pandemic and Brexit.

The book was also endorsed by Sir Elton John, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and former Scottish Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

Mordaunt suggests in the book that Britain could do more like the United States and Canada in celebrating Scottish culture.

She wrote: “Most English ­people would need no excuse to join in the drinking on St Patrick’s or St David’s Day. As for Burns Night, well, try stopping them. If we don’t invest in relationships, why are we surprised when they atrophy through reciprocal disinterest? Scots may feel abandoned by London in the same way that provinces of England do.”

Mordaunt said England needed to do more to celebrate not only devolved nations but its own regions. “If Scotland is turning its back on England, then how soon before Cornwall or Yorkshire slide into the same process? Brexit may not be a single event. It may be the beginning of a process unless we reverse the drift.”

Yesterday, Mordaunt was the bookmakers’ favourite to win the Tory leadership, which was sparked by Boris Johnson’s ­resignation earlier this month.

But commentators say a­ winner is far from obvious at this stage as right-wing MPs battle to ensure they have a candidate in the final two. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who has struggled to gain traction so far, could benefit from the votes of MPs currently supporting Kemi Badenoch. Commentators thought she performed well in the Channel 4 debate on Friday night and last night came top of a poll run by Conservative Home website. With another ITV debate tonight, her backers, including former minister Michael Gove, insist “she is in it to win it”.

MPs will continue to vote on the remaining candidates this week until only two remain. The winner will then be decided by Tory party members in a vote to be completed by the end of August.

Yesterday, another poll suggested almost half of Tory voters are backing Rishi Sunak to be prime minister. The poll of 4,500 people for the Sunday Telegraph by JL Partners shows 48% of people who voted Conservative in the 2019 General Election back the former chancellor. This compared to 39% for Liz Truss, 33% for Mordaunt, 29% for Tom Tugendhat and 21% for Kemi Badenoch.

Campaigning yesterday, Sunak attacked calls by his rivals for immediate tax cuts paid for by increased borrowing. During a visit to Teesside, he said: “I think the number one economic priority we face as a country is inflation. I want to get a grip of inflation because inflation is what makes everybody poorer.

“If we don’t get a grip of it now it will last longer and that is not a good thing. Once we’ve done that, I will deliver tax cuts.”

© Shutterstock

The poll also showed ­senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat winning the most support in five of the seats held by the Conservatives in Scotland.

Andrew Bowie, former vice-chair of the Conservative Party, is backing Sunak to be leader and said he was the standout performer in Friday’s debate.

He said Badenoch was an “incredible performer” and may be a future leader of the party. “I don’t think that time is now, but it was no surprise to me that she performed well. I have known her for years and she is a great performer and a great brain.

“I just think now is not the time for a fresh face or a change. It is time for a steady hand on the tiller given all the economic problems we are facing right now.”

The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP said that Truss had performed “very poorly”.

He said: “To be fair to Liz, she is still Foreign Secretary and dealing with the war in Ukraine, the Northern Ireland protocol and everything else that is going on, so maybe her mind wasn’t completely focused on the debate and she might be better in the next one.

“But, in terms of the ­standout performance, Rishi had it in the bag. It puts him is in a very good place as we proceed to the few rounds of voting by MPs.”

© PA

Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s Westminster depute leader, said: “Penny Mordant says ‘when the people choose what they want, all democrats can celebrate’ – but she, and every other Tory leadership candidate, is determined to deny Scotland having a democratic choice over its own future.

“Soon, the Tories will have to engage in the substance of the independence debate in Scotland. It will be for them to explain exactly why the UK continues to make decisions that are bad for Scotland – from a failure to invest North Sea oil and gas revenues to a crippling decade of austerity and a deeply damaging hard Brexit that Scotland overwhelmingly rejected.”