Who is Penny Mordaunt?

Penny Mordaunt was the first Conservative MP to officially announce she would stand to replace Liz Truss as Tory leader and prime minister.

What do we know about the contender for the top job?

• Mordaunt's military background plays a significant role in her political identity. As a Royal Navy reservist and MP for Portsmouth North, she often speaks about what it means to come from a navy family and a city with a rich naval and maritime heritage
• During Theresa May's premiership, Mordaunt became the UK's first ever female defence secretary. But she served for just 85 days until Boris Johnson took over as PM. In July, Mordaunt pledged to honour the UK's Nato commitment of spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030
• Before starting her career in politics, she was a magician's assistant. In 2014, while an MP, Mordaunt appeared on ITV programme Splash!, and was mentored on diving by Olympic star Tom Daley
• Mordaunt says she wants a "lower tax, higher productivity economy"
• Critics have attacked her stance on transgender issues. Some objected to her statements of support for trans rights while equalities minister. She later rowed back on them, saying "if you've been in the Royal Navy, and you have competed physically against men, you understand the biological difference between men and women".