Penny Mordaunt appointed Defence Secretary

Posted 2 May 2019

Penny Mordaunt was appointed Secretary of State for Defence yesterday, becoming the first woman to hold the position of UK Defence Secretary.

Courtesy Shutterstock

She is Minister for Women and Equalities, having been appointed to that role on 30th April 2018.

She was previously Secretary of State for International Development from November 2017 to May 2019 and was Minister of State for Department for Work and Pensions from 15th July 2016 to 9th November 2017.

Elected Conservative MP for Portsmouth North in 2010, in autumn 2013 she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon. Philip Hammond MP and she served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces from May 2015 until July 2016, whilst as a Royal Navy reservist, she has worked alongside British military personnel.

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