Penny Mordaunt gives update on bid to return as Tory MP

Dame Penny Mordaunt revealed she is "filling out my application forms for candidates lists" in her bid to return as a Tory MP. The former defence secretary gave an update on her ambition to make a political comeback.

She told BBC Two's Politics Live: "I'm filling out my application forms for candidates lists. I'd love to get back into Parliament, I think it's an important job, but I'm back to square one and I've got to find a seat and I've got to do all of those things."

Dame Penny insisted she wants to support Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch when asked if she still had leadership ambitions.

She said: "If I could state what I'd like to be doing in four years' time, it would be helping Prime Minister Kemi Badenoch to implement some of her sensible policies, and get the radical change this country needs in a way that takes the country with it."

The former Commons leader, who went viral for her sword-carrying role in the King's Coronation, narrowly lost her Portsmouth North seat at last year's general election.

Her comments come as the Tories are languishing in national opinion polls behind Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

Ex-Conservative MP Sarah Atheron, a former defence minister, became the latest Tory defection to the insurgent party today.

She accused the Conservatives and Labour of having "failed Britain's Armed Forces" as she announced her switch.