Ex-Tory MPs in social media spat as Suella Braverman and Penny Mordaunt exchange war of words
Their digital spat is public for everyone to see - but accomplishes very little.
Two former Conservative MPs who once sat on the front benches together appear to have publicly fallen out with one another on social media.
Fareham and Waterlooville MP Suella Braverman, and former Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, have engaged in a bizarre war of words on X, formerly Twitter, after Ms Mordaunt branded Reform UK’s actions around Henry Nowak’s death a “disgrace”.
Reform leader Nigel Farage suggested the public should react with “pure, cold rage” over the 18-year-old’s death. He was arrested by police as he lay dying in Southampton - his murderer, Vikrum Digwa, has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 21 years. The incident is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), a watchdog for the country’s police forces.
Ms Braverman defected to Reform from the Conservative Party in January this year, with Ms Mordaunt losing her Portsmouth North seat to Labour’s Amanda Martin in 2024.
Posting a clip of her appearance on Good Morning Britain, Ms Mordaunt said: “Why on Earth would you [Reform] devise a social media campaign to claim that there was actually less support and sympathy for the views that your purport in Parliament? This is the most cynical play I have ever seen, and to do it on this issue is a disgrace.”
In response, Ms Braverman hit out at her former colleague, criticising her role in “DEI” (diversity, equality and conclusion) - a framework designed to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunity for people of all backgrounds.
She said: “This is the woman who, as a Tory minister, declared that ‘Trans women are women’. She also oversaw a law (for my maternity leave) that described me as a ‘pregnant person’ so as not to offend trans people.
“Even after backlash, she would not include the word ‘woman’. We had to settle on ‘mother’. She plans to come back and lead the Party.
“The Conservative Party should be apologising to the country for its great betrayal on DEI. Never trust them.”
Ms Mordaunt then responded to Ms Braverman, saying she had no involvement in the bill - but that her former colleague had the opportunity to influence it.
“This is illuminating,” Ms Mordaunt said. “Oversaw - that is an interesting choice of word.
“Because as Suella knows I did not draft that bill. I did not see it prior to its introduction. I was, as she knows, only asked to take it through the Commons hours before it was heard. Nor was I given any authority to alter it - but I did make asks to do so to the Cabinet Office - to change the gender-neutral language wording to female wording.
“All this is a matter of record. As are the names of those that drafted it. As are the members of the PLB Committee which would have cleared it, a committee which included Suella as the Attorney General. Given that the bill was about her maternity leave I assumed she would have taken an interest.
“Perhaps I was wrong to make such assumptions, and to take her thanks and delight at it being introduced that she expressed to me at the time - in writing - as her genuine feelings.
“As I say, illuminating.”