Former Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt, who lost her seat in the 2024 general election, said that gender recognition, and trans rights, was ‘the most important issue of our times’, according to a new book by Boris Johnson.
Johnson disclosed the details of the event in his memoirs Unleashed, stating how the former MP had raised the issue in a cabinet meeting.
In the book, Johnson announced that Mordaunt had “something very important to talk about” in “breathy vicar’s-daughter tones”.
Johnson wrote: “At which point Penny began a long disquisition about gender recognition, and the problems of British transsexuals in changing sex.
“I didn’t catch all the details, but it seemed fairly harrowing stuff, and at one point I heard Penny claim: ‘This is the most important issue of our times’.
“I didn’t always agree with Phil Hammond, but I happened at that moment to catch his eye and to see that he – like me – was struggling to contain his amusement.
“I mean: I could see that this was an issue of huge importance to some people (though surely not that many?) and I could see that it needed to be handled with tact and sensitivity.
“But ‘the most important issue of our times?’ Really?”
Johnson outlined how Mordaunt had the support of then-Prime Minister Theresa May, who promised to allow trans people to self-change their legal gender, which was at the time supported by Mordaunt.
Despite vocally supporting trans rights in the House of Commons, in 2023 Mordaunt said she sees “no incompatibility” with protecting both trans rights and women’s rights – appearing to U-turn on comments she made when she ran for Conservative Party leader, a contest won by Rishi Sunak.
In an interview with Nick Robinson, Mordaunt claimed she is “here for all of my constituents” and said her job as a politician is to “bring people together”.
“I see no incompatibility with being kind and understanding, and protecting the ability for trans people to go around and live their lives, with protecting my rights as a woman to privacy and dignity,” she said on Robinson’s BBC podcast Political Thinking.