Penny Mordaunt: Biography, Age, Family, and Where She Is Now

There aren’t many MPs who lose their seat and end up with more public sympathy than they had in office — but Penny Mordaunt is one of them. The former Leader of the House of Commons lost Portsmouth North to Labour’s Amanda Martin on 4 July 2024 by 780 votes, UK Parliament election results show, ending a 14-year parliamentary run.

Age: 51 (born 4 March 1973) · Former constituency: Portsmouth North · Years in Parliament: 14 (2010–2024) · Highest office: Leader of the House of Commons (2022–2024) · Title: Dame Penelope Mary Mordaunt · Political party: Conservative

Seven details, one pattern: Mordaunt’s public record is unusually complete — dates, offices, measurements — while her private life stays carefully out of frame.

Her biography is detailed on career but silent on faith and personal belief.

What has happened to Penny Mordaunt?

The short answer is that Mordaunt is out of Parliament entirely. The longer answer involves one of the most closely watched constituency results of the 2024 general election: Labour’s Amanda Martin took Portsmouth North with 14,495 votes to Mordaunt’s 13,715, according to Portsmouth City Council (local electoral authority).

That 780-vote margin flipped a seat the Conservatives had held since 2010 and produced an 18% swing from Conservative to Labour, according to BBC News. Reform UK’s Melvyn Todd took 8,501 votes (Portsmouth City Council), the Liberal Democrats’ Simon Dodd 3,031 and the Green Party’s Duncan Robinson 1,851, according to The News, Portsmouth.

Mordaunt was one of the senior Conservative figures who lost their seat as party losses mounted nationwide (ITV News Meridian). The result ended her time as Leader of the House of Commons, a Cabinet role she had held since 2022. Before the election, she had been viewed in Westminster as a possible future Conservative leader (Reuters).

In her concession remarks, Mordaunt described Portsmouth’s electorate as “the best employer ever,” said the Conservative Party had failed to honour the trust people placed in it, and promised she would never stop caring about the city and its people (BBC News).

Is Penny Mordaunt still an MP?

• Noe. She lost Portsmouth North on 4 July 2024 and no longer sits in the House of Commons.
• She described the preceding 14 years as a period she looks back on “filled with gratitude” — her words to ITV Meridian after the defeat (ITV News Meridian).

Does Penny Mordaunt sit in the House of Lords?

• No. She has not been appointed to the House of Lords.
• The damehood she received in December 2024 recognised her public service but came with no legislative role.

The pattern: Mordaunt didn’t just lose a marginal seat — she lost by 780 votes after winning by 15,780 in 2019, and the Conservative Party did not find her a route back into the legislature. For a politician once discussed as a future leader, that is a decisive break with Westminster, not a pause.

Is Penny Mordaunt still married?

No — and that has been the position for more than a decade. Mordaunt married John Mordaunt in 1999, and the couple separated in 2014. There are no children from the marriage.

Does Penny Mordaunt have kids?

• No. Mordaunt has no children, and no public record suggests otherwise.

The brief answer is also the complete one. She has kept family matters out of her public biography, which is why the question keeps resurfacing in search results.

Is Penny Mordaunt in a relationship?

• There is no publicly documented partner since her 2014 separation from John Mordaunt.
• Mordaunt has never commented publicly on her current relationship status.

That silence is itself the answer: if there is a partner, she has chosen not to make it part of her public identity.

The takeaway: the facts that are confirmed — married in 1999, separated in 2014, no children — are stable and well documented. Everything after 2014 is private, and she appears determined to keep it that way.

What is Penny Mordaunt doing today?

Mordaunt has swapped the green benches for a less formal portfolio. Her own website describes her as a former parliamentarian who now works with a portfolio of global advisory roles, alongside writing and public speaking on defence and security.

That mix matters because it does not look like a retirement. Her X feed is the tell: she is still publicly campaigning on defence spending, resilience and energy policy as if she were still in a position to change them.

What does Penny Mordaunt do?

• Global advisory roles across a portfolio of organisations, per her personal website.
• Public speaking and writing, focused on defence, security and resilience.
• Ongoing public advocacy on defence spending — including on X.

The implication: Mordaunt has not left public life; she has changed its arena. The open question is whether that arena leads anywhere — or whether advisory work is the destination.

Where does Penny Mordaunt live now?

Mordaunt remains tied to the place she represented. She lives in the Portsmouth area and maintains a home in her former constituency — a connection she made explicit on election night, when she said she would never stop caring about Portsmouth and its people.

The pattern: a defeated MP who relocates is easily forgotten; one who stays remains part of the local conversation. By staying put, Mordaunt keeps whatever political options remain genuinely open.

How old is Penny Mordaunt?

Mordaunt was born on 4 March 1973 in Torquay, Devon, which makes her 51. Her public biography also lists her height as 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) and her full name as Dame Penelope Mary Mordaunt.

Those two details — age and height — are the ones that show up most in searches, which says something about how the internet treats public figures: the facts that are verifiable get repeated, and the gaps get speculated about.

What religion is Penny Mordaunt?

• Not publicly confirmed. Mordaunt has never made a public statement about religious affiliation.
• No primary source supports a specific answer.

The honest answer is that there is no verified answer. Any specific claim about her religion comes from inference, not from Mordaunt herself.

The trade-off: her biography is detailed on dates, offices and measurements, yet silent on faith and personal belief. The gaps are not an oversight — they are a boundary.

Key dates in Penny Mordaunt’s career

• 4 March 1973 — Born in Torquay, Devon.
• 1999 — Married John Mordaunt.
• 2010 — Elected MP for Portsmouth North.
• 2014 — Separated from John Mordaunt.
• 2022–2024 — Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council (Reuters).
• 4 July 2024 — Lost Portsmouth North in the general election.
• December 2024 — Appointed Dame in the New Year Honours.

Read the dates and one thing stands out: the gap between July and December 2024 is when Mordaunt’s role changed from minister to Dame — and from MP to private citizen. The honours system gave her a title; the electorate gave her a different ending.

What’s confirmed and what’s unclear

Six confirmed facts, six open questions. The balance is a warning to anyone reading social-media versions of Mordaunt’s “new life”: the public record is solid on biography and nearly empty on everything else.

Penny Mordaunt in her own words

“I’ve said it before, just a few times, MAKE BRITAIN SECURE: Spend on defence, build resilience, cut energy costs, modernise regulation, deal with the debt.”

Penny Mordaunt, writing on X (formerly Twitter)

“Penny Mordaunt was a British Parliamentarian for 14 years, holding nine ministerial roles, four in Cabinet. She now works with a portfolio of global advisory roles.”

Penny Mordaunt’s personal website

Read those two statements together and the arc is clear: the parliamentary career is framed as finished, and the future is framed as advisory work with an unusually loud policy voice. That combination is why the “where is she now” question is never answered by a simple job title.

The implication: a 15,780 majority in 2019 became a 780-vote defeat in 2024 — an 18% swing that turned one of the Conservative Party’s safest southern seats into a Labour gain. For Conservatives planning a comeback in Portsmouth North, the lesson is blunt: the personal vote Mordaunt built over 14 years did not transfer to the party. For voters, Amanda Martin’s 14,495-vote mandate is now the number to watch in 2029.

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