Ms Mordaunt is under scrutiny for her stance on gender self-identification after leaked government documents claimed she had advocated weakening the legal process for transitioning. In the first televised debate on Friday, former Equality Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Secretary of State Liz Truss, who also has responsibility for equality, argued that Ms Mordaud had backed a push for self-identification for those wishing to transition. They said that together they had reversed politics. Raab researched the famous winking PMQs – Politics lately But Ms Mordaunt strongly disputed the claims. He said that while he had ordered a review of the Gender Recognition Act, he was not in favor of self-determination and “would not have separated it from health care”. However, The Sunday Times reported that it had seen government documents which appeared to suggest it was in favor of removing at least one element of the medical process required for transgender people to legally transition. A spokesman for her campaign responded: “The fact that so much of this contest has been distracted by side issues instead of the cost of living crisis affecting millions of people is a great disappointment. “Disagreeing about politics is one thing, but questioning Penny’s values and integrity has to be questioned. “To be clear, on the issue of identity, the leaked documents prove that all ministers in the department wanted to maintain medical involvement, including Penny. Other ministers can support that.” Cross-examined on the issue on Sunday, Ms Mordaunt herself denied reports that she had pushed for policy to end the requirement for transgender people to receive a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they could legally change gender when she was equalities minister in Theresa’s government Mei. . He also accused the papers of “rigging” and said the Conservative leadership contest was “being dragged” by it. “This has been debunked many times. We all know what’s going on. This is the type of toxic politics that people want to get away from,” Ms Mordant told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme. “We did a consultation. We asked the health professionals what they thought about the situation. That’s the department I took care of. I managed that consultation. We didn’t really do politics on my shift. “There is a series of smears in the papers. My colleagues are very angry and upset that this is how the leadership contest is being dragged out.” Ms Mordaunt was supported by Baroness Williams, who was junior equalities minister at the time, and said the accounts of events given in the camps and in the media were “completely wrong”. “As equalities minister in the department under both Penny Mordant and Amber Rudd, I saw first-hand that the position stated was absolutely not Penny Mordant’s and I completely refute the claims made by other candidates about her self-identity debate.” , she said in a statement. “Having sat in the Equalities Office for many years, I am appalled to see such misreporting and reporting by our colleagues and would question the motives of those who seek to do so.” Read more: What three key charts tell us about who will replace Boris Johnson Meanwhile, former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith – who is backing Ms Truss in the leadership contest – questioned Ms Mordaunt’s record in government. He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “The only person I don’t know what her achievements are is Penny (Mordaunt). I have no problem with her, absolutely no problem. “But for me the bottom line is that we’re not electing a leader of the Conservative Party who has had two years to build his reputation, we’re electing someone who will be prime minister on day one. “So you have to know when they had power and authority in government, what they did with it, what they got, what they achieved, what their main beliefs were, what they drove, what hard decisions they made to make, and actually sometimes they have to go against to their civil servants to get these things done.” A new poll of Tory party members by ConservativeHome has Ms Badenoch ahead with 31% of respondents, with a commanding lead over second-placed Mrs Truss on 20%. Next comes Mrs Mordaunt with 18%, who fell from the top spot, followed by Rishi Sunak and Tom Tugendhat.
