Drop culture war battles, Penny Mordaunt tells Tories

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt admitted the Conservative party had not been true to itself or the UK’s values in “recent history” as she urged the Tories to drop its culture war obsession. In a criticism of some of her colleagues, Ms Mordaunt told the Centre for Policy Studies’ Margaret Thatcher Conference that pursuing a culture war “doesn’t help”. She said: “It amazes me that in both the US and the UK, even though we know it’s a failed model of leadership, the top guy is always the focus whereas actually it’s the team, and I don’t mean the cabinet and the parliamentary party, it’s the country.” Revealing that she had offered Mr Sunak some advice, Ms Mordaunt said: “I said to the prime minister, your team is the nation, and we have to reframe our story in those terms. “Whilst lower taxes are at the heart of Conservative economic thinking, Margaret Thatcher never thought that the way to achieve a low tax economy was by dramatically increasing public sector debt and borrowing,” she said.