When Liz Truss became prime minister (for a disastrous seven weeks and the shortest-serving ever), she demoted Penny Mordaunt to leader of the House of Commons - a relatively obscure job that also comes with the ceremonial title of lord president of the council. The lord president has few actual roles to fulfil, but one of them, as the world discovered on Saturday, is to carry the sword of state at the monarch’s coronation.
Whilst Liz Truss has disappeared into well deserved obscurity, Penny Mordaunt became the breakout star at the crowning of Charles and Camilla at Westminster Abbey. Dressed in a glamorous teal-coloured outfit that verged on the look of a steward in the first class cabin of an Emirati airline, Mordaunt successfully pulled off the toughest role in the ancient ceremony. Namely, carrying the 3.6kg jewelled sword of state, upright, for a very impressive 51 minutes. Without wavering.
3.6kgs is equivalent to over half a stone (8 pounds) or 3.6 litres of water. That's the approximate equivalent of holding three bottles of wine, perched on top of each other - for nearly an hour.
How did 50 year old Mordaunt look so serene? There was no sign of a tremor or bead of sweat as she strode through the abbey in her specially commissioned power dress and cape, holding the sword at a perfect right angle. Mordaunt, rather sheepishly, said she had been “doing some press-ups” and training with a weighted replica as preparation for carrying the sword. No wonder Labour MP Chris Bryant tweeted: “The Penny is mightier than the sword.”
After her PR coup, what's next for Mordaunt? Could it be a series of fitness training programmes on YouTube or the relaunch of her campaign to become the next leader of the tory party?