Man accused of stalking Dame Penny Mordaunt says interest ‘only political’

A former councillor accused of stalking former Conservative Party leadership candidate Dame Penny Mordaunt has told a court his interest in her was “entirely political”.

Edward Brandt is on trial at Southampton Crown Court for one charge of stalking intending to cause serious alarm or distress against the former MP for Portsmouth North between September 11 2023 and May 12 2024.

The jury has heard that Brandt sent multiple emails and phone messages to Ms Mordaunt as well as turned up at her Portsmouth office out of hours in a bid to meet her.

Brandt, who lived on the Isle of Wight at the time, failed to comply with terms of the conditional caution issued in April 2024 including a requirement to complete a victim awareness course and not to contact her, the trial heard.

The defendant, who worked as a professional sailor, was also made subject to an interim stalking protection order at Isle of Wight Magistrates’ Court on July 16 2024.

Brandt, a former councillor for East Hampshire District Council, told the court that politics was his “passion” and he had previously met politicians including Lord David Cameron, Baroness Theresa May, Lord William Hague and Sir John Major, and added: “I have always been fascinated by it.”

Explaining why he wanted to meet Dame Penny, he said: “I wanted to commiserate with her for not getting the top job in the autumn, I think she would still have been prime minister if she had.

“I wanted to congratulate her because she was a reforming leader of the Commons, I wanted to congratulate her on the coronation, chat to her about her time in office, have her sign a copy of her book.

“It was entirely political and entirely harmless.”

Brandt, who said that he had been diagnosed as having ADHD and being on the autism spectrum, said that he had not had responses from Dame Penny’s office about his requests to meet her and added: “I wasn’t getting a reply, I harmlessly kept trying.”

The court was told that Brandt, a divorced father-of-two, was arrested on March 24 2024, and given the conditional caution on April 19 2024, requiring him not to contact Dame Penny.

She said in a statement to police that she “feared sexual violence” because of the defendant’s “creepy” behaviour, the court has heard.

Brandt, who now lives in Lymington, Hampshire, then left two voicemail messages for her on May 6 and 11 and in one of the messages, he said: “I am going to go on gently knocking at your door in order to shake your hand, I am not giving up.”

He told the court that there were no “threats of physical violence or sexual misconduct” in his emails or messages and added: “She is flattering herself, frankly.”

He said: “It was nothing more than meeting her on a peaceful basis, I am just not like that.

“I was so upset how she unbelievably misunderstood me, I wanted to set the record straight, I wanted to clear the air.”

Dame Penny told the court said that threats she had received from other people, including a threat to shoot her and her family, were “easier to deal with” than Brandt’s communications, because his were “constantly present”.

Brandt said that he had made no further contact with Dame Penny since the May messages and added: “I am deeply sorry about it, if I had any idea she was going through this I would have stopped dead.”

Brandt denies the charge and the trial continues.