The three-minute video, which includes moving music and images of fires, marks an attempt by the former Secretary of Defense to distance himself from the prime minister driven by the personality of Boris Johnson.
With the backing music of the patriotic anthem I Vow to Thee, My Country, the video opens with a male voice-over saying, “We are beginning the process of selecting a new Conservative Party leader. The party will have a new leader.
“The nation will have a new prime minister. We must choose this person with solemnity and wisdom.”
The voiceover continues to say that when choosing a leader “we need to think about those who came before and future generations” and cut out an image of Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister, a sign that Mordaunt is trying to present. herself as continuing in the Thatcherite tradition.
The video includes modern military footage as well as archival footage, such as Royal Air Force officers standing proudly in front of their plane and an overflight of the red arrows.
It also contains a montage of British cultural and historical institutions, such as the statue of Winston Churchill, Big Ben, the House of Commons and Stonehenge.
Ms. Mordaunt does not appear at all in the video, except in the final frame where an image of her face is shown with a clip of her voice saying, “Our leadership needs to change, it needs to be less about the leader and one more on the boat.I am Penny Mordaunt and I am ready to serve as the next leader of the Conservative Party.
The North Portsmouth MP and Minister of International Trade announced his candidacy for leadership on Sunday morning. So far he has received the support of George Freeman, a former minister.
He explained on his website, PM4PM.com, that the Conservative Party was “chosen to offer Brexit and its benefits”. He added that to do so: “We need to build a team, not just between the party, but with all sectors and every part of the UK.”
Ms. Mordaunt’s rankings in the latest leadership polls far exceed her public profile. It has been constantly polled as one of the best options among Tory Party members in recent weeks, despite its relative lack of first-class experience.