Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP

Biography

Penny Mordaunt was appointed Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons on 6 September 2022.

Previously she was Minister of State at the Department for International Trade from 16 September 2021 to 6 September 2022. She was the department’s ministerial disability champion.

Penny has been a Member of Parliament since 2010.

Her previous positions include:

  • Paymaster General (2020), leading resilience work overhauling how the UK prepares and responds to threats and has bolstered the UKs defensive cyber security
  • Secretary of State for Defence (2019), the first woman to hold the post
  • Secretary of State for International Development (2017)
  • Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (2016)
  • Minister for the Armed Forces (2015), the first woman to hold this position
  • Minister of Local Government (2014)

She is also a former Governor at the World Bank.

Lord President of the Council

The Privy Council is one of the oldest parts of the government and advises on the exercise of prerogative business and certain functions assigned to The King and the Council by Acts of Parliament. It is, therefore, the mechanism through which interdepartmental agreement is reached on those items of government business which, for historical or other reasons, fall to ministers as Privy Counsellors rather than as departmental ministers.

The Lord President of the Council has ministerial responsibility for the Privy Council Office which manages Privy Council business.

More about this role

Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

Leader of the House of Commons

The Leader of the House is responsible for delivery of the government’s legislative programme and chairs the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Cabinet Committee.

The role involves managing the business of the House of Commons in close cooperation with the Chief Whip, making a weekly business statement to the House and facilitating motions and debate in the Chamber.

The Leader of the House acts as the government’s representative in the House (by statute sitting on the House of Commons Commission, Public Accounts Commission, and the Speaker’s Committee on the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority); and as the House’s representative in government, including by contributing to the civil service’s efforts to build parliamentary capability and by taking up members’ requests for help on ministerial correspondence and questions.

The Leader of the House also sits on the Members Estimate Committee.

More about this role

Office of the Leader of the House of Commons