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Jacob Rees-Mogg

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The Honourable
Jacob Rees-Mogg
MP
Rees-Mogg in 2013
Member of Parliament
for North East Somerset
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byNew constituency
Majority10,235 (18.9%)
Personal details
Born (1969-05-24) 24 May 1969 (age 55)
Hammersmith, London, England[1]
Political partyConservative
SpouseHelena de Chair
RelationsWilliam, Lord Rees-Mogg (father)
Annunziata Rees-Mogg (sister)
Children6[2]
Residence(s)Gournay Court,[3] West Harptree, Somerset[4]
EducationEton College
Alma materTrinity College, Oxford
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionFund manager

Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was first elected as the Member of Parliament for North East Somerset at the 2010 general election.

Early life and career

Rees-Mogg is the son of William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of The Times newspaper and life peer who died in 2012, and his wife Gillian Shakespeare Morris.[5] He has three sisters and a brother.[5] One of his sisters, Annunziata, is a journalist, also a Conservative Party member, and former parliamentary candidate. A member of an established Somerset family of coal mine owners,[6] Rees-Mogg was born in Hammersmith, London, and grew up in Ston Easton, Somerset.

Rees-Mogg was educated at Eton College and subsequently read History at Trinity College, Oxford.[7] He became president of the Oxford University Conservative Association and was a member and frequent debater at the Oxford Union, where he was elected Librarian.[8][9]

Rees-Mogg worked in the City of London in the Global Emerging Markets division of Lloyd George Management[10] before setting up his own company, Somerset Capital Management, in 2007.[11]

Parliamentary candidate and other roles

At the 1997 general election, Rees-Mogg was the Conservative candidate for the traditional Labour seat of Central Fife and attracted ridicule, after canvassing a largely working-class neighbourhood with his former nanny;[7] on election night he came third, gaining 9% of the votes cast,[12] slightly fewer than half of the votes won by the previous Conservative candidate in 1992. However, rumours that he had toured the constituency in a Bentley were described as "scurrilous" − he insisted it had been a Mercedes.[13]

In 1999, when it was being rumoured that his "anachronistically posh" Received Pronunciation accent was working against his chances of being selected for a safe Conservative seat, Rees-Mogg was defended by letter writers to The Daily Telegraph, one of whom claimed that "an overt form of intimidation exists, directed against anyone who dares to eschew the current, Americanised, mode of behaviour, speech and dress".[14] Rees-Mogg himself stated (in The Sunday Times, 23 May 1999) that "it is rather pathetic to fuss about accents too much", though he then went on to say that "John Prescott's accent certainly stereotypes him as an oaf".[15] He later said "I gradually realised that whatever I happened to be speaking about, the number of voters in my favour dropped as soon as I opened my mouth."[6]

Rees-Mogg stood for the Wrekin in Shropshire in 2001, losing to the Labour MP Peter Bradley[16] who achieved a 0.95% swing to Labour against the national trend of a 3.5% swing to the Conservatives.

Rees-Mogg in 2007

From 2005 to 2008, Rees-Mogg was the elected Chairman of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association.[17]

In March 2009, Rees-Mogg was forced to apologise to Trevor Kavanagh, then political editor of The Sun, after it was shown that a newsletter signed by Rees-Mogg had plagiarised sections of a Kavanagh article that had appeared in the newspaper over a month earlier.[18]

In December 2009, a pamphlet which purported to show him talking to a local constituent and calling on the government to "show more honesty" was criticised after it emerged that the "constituent" was a London-based employee of his investment firm.[19]

He was one of the directors of the Catholic Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London who were ordered to resign by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor in February 2008 after protracted arguments over the adoption of a tighter ethical code banning non-Catholic practices such as abortions and gender reassignment surgery at the hospital.[20]

Parliamentary career

He was described by Camilla Long in a Sunday Times profile as "David Cameron’s worst nightmare" during the 2010 general election campaign.[21] At that election, Rees-Mogg became the new Member of Parliament for the new North East Somerset constituency with a majority of 4,914 votes.[22] His sister, journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg, stood simultaneously in the neighbouring Somerton and Frome, but failed to win her seat by 1,817 votes.[7][23] The Guardian had previously criticised the damage done to the Tory message of social inclusion by the selection of two highly privileged candidates.[6]

In the House of Commons, Rees-Mogg has gained a reputation for his humorous speeches and ability to filibuster.[24]

The ConservativeHome blog rates Rees-Mogg as one of the Conservatives' most rebellious MPs.[25] He has voted against the government whip on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, the October 2011 European Union Referendum Motion and the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012.[26]

He also helped filibuster the Daylight Saving Bill 2010–12 and the Sustainable Livestock Bill 2010–12, thus preventing their passage through Parliament. In his long speech on the Sustainable Livestock Bill, he recited poetry; spoke of the superior quality of Somerset eggs, and mentioned the fictional pig, the Empress of Blandings, who won silver at the Shropshire County Show three years in a row, before moving on to talk about the sewerage system and the Battle of Agincourt.[24][27][28][29] He also attempted to amend the Daylight Saving Bill to give the county of Somerset its own time zone, fifteen minutes behind London.[30]

Rees-Mogg debating at the Cambridge Union Society

In a debate on London Local Authorities Bill on 7 December 2011, he said that council officials who have the power to issue on-the-spot fines should be made to wear bowler hats.[31][32]

In February 2012, Rees-Mogg made the record books with the use of floccinaucinihilipilification—an Eton college neologism meaning "the habit of considering as worthless"—in the House of Commons which became the longest word in Hansard.[33] Rees-Mogg is comically known by parliamentary sketch writers as "the honourable member for the early 20th century".[34][35]

In January 2014, he dismissed the sum of £250,000 spent on MPs' portraits as "chicken feed" saying "I’m all for saving money, saving money right, left and centre, but this is chicken feed."[36]

Political views

Rees-Mogg is a supporter of zero-hour contracts, arguing that they benefit employees, including students, by providing flexibility and could provide a route into more permanent employment.[37] He rejected criticism by Vince Cable and others that they were exploitative as "the standard response of the left".[37]

Writing in The Daily Telegraph in May 2013, the Eurosceptic Rees-Mogg, asked whether it was time to make a "big open and comprehensive offer" to UKIP. He said collaboration would be straightforward as policies were similar on "many issues" and most Conservatives would prefer Nigel Farage to Nick Clegg as deputy PM.[38] His remarks angered his party leadership whilst UKIP said it was against any formal arrangements.[39] Paul Goodman, editor of the political blog ConservativeHome, said he believed a short-term pact was both impractical and undesirable.[39]

Rees-Mogg is a monarchist.[40] Regarding global warming he thinks solutions that do not hinder technological progress should be sought.[41]

Rees-Mogg also opposes same-sex marriage, saying that he is "not proud" of it being legal and that it will alienate "traditional supporters" of his party.[42][43] Rees-Mogg's reasoning for this is that gay marriage does not align with the Catholic faith, saying "It's purely a religious matter. It's a question of what is a sacrament."[44]

Initially a supporter of Donald Trump to be the 45th President of the United States,[45] he distanced himself from the then-Republican nominee after the Donald Trump and Billy Bush recording wherein Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women surfaced in October 2016.[46] Rees-Mogg later described Trump as being "sympathetic to the UK" out of "genuine affection" for the country.[47]

Rees-Mogg campaigned for a "Leave" vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[48]

Other news stories

On 17 May 2013, Rees-Mogg addressed the Traditional Britain Group annual dinner.[49] He was warned in the days before the dinner by Searchlight, an anti-fascist magazine, that the Traditional Britain Group promoted extreme right-wing policies regarding immigration.[50]

In early August, he declared that he was "shocked" that the Traditional Britain Group publicly attacked Labour's nomination of Doreen Lawrence as a life peer; the group said she "was without merit", and called for the Conservative Party's 1970 general election manifesto pledge to encourage state-assisted voluntary repatriation for immigrants, including Lawrence, to return to their "natural homelands", to be resurrected. Rees-Mogg, who was pictured sitting next to Conservative Democratic Alliance member Gregory Lauder-Frost, former committee member of the Monday Club, claimed that the dinner organisers had dismissed comments that they were racist as a smear, whilst Conservative Central Office "had no knowledge of them".[51][52][53]

Declaration of interests

In December 2014, Rees-Mogg was reported to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority for speaking in debates on tobacco, mining and oil and gas without first verbally declaring he is founding partner and director of Somerset Capital which has multimillion-pound investments in these sectors.[54] However, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, decided that no wrongdoing had been committed and so no investigation would take place.[55]

According to The Daily Telegraph, Rees-Mogg's extra-parliamentary work took up 476 hours or 9 hours per week in 2014.[56]

Personal life

In January 2007 Rees-Mogg married Helena de Chair, a writer on a trade magazine for the oil industry. She is the daughter of Somerset de Chair and his fourth wife Lady Juliet Tadgell, the only child of the eighth Earl Fitzwilliam. The couple have five sons and a daughter.[57][2][58] Rees-Mogg's nephew is the athlete Lawrence Clarke.[59] They currently live at Gournay Court in West Harptree.[3]

Rees-Mogg, a Catholic, and de Chair, an Anglican, were married in an ecumenical marriage ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral. Part of the service included a Latin Tridentine Mass conducted by Dom Aidan Bellenger, the Abbot of Downside Abbey.[60] Rees-Mogg likes to attend the Tridentine Mass when available: "We're very lucky if we get it in Somerset once a month. The more you go the more you will find that it is a good thing to go to. You get some time to think and it's not all noisy – and there's no risk of guitars. I think Mass can be too noisy and guitars should be banned."[61]

Electoral history

General Election 2017: North East Somerset[62]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg 28,992 53.6 +3.9
Labour Robin Moss 18,757 34.7 +9.9
Liberal Democrats Manda Rigby 4,461 8.3 +0.4
Green Sally Calverley 1,245 2.3 −3.2
Independent Shaun Hughes 588 1.1 +1.1
Majority 10,235 19.0 −5.9
Turnout 54,043 75.7 +2.0
Conservative hold Swing -3.0
General election 2015: North East Somerset[63]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg 25,439 49.8 +8.5
Labour Todd Foreman 12,690 24.8 −6.8
UKIP Ernest Blaber 6,150 12.0 +8.6
Liberal Democrats Wera Hobhouse 4,029 7.9 −14.4
Green Katy Boyce[64] 2,802 5.5 +4.2
Majority 12,749 24.9 +15.3
Turnout 51,110 73.7 −2.3
Conservative hold Swing +7.65
General election 2010: North East Somerset[22]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg 21,130 41.3 +2.2
Labour Dan Norris 16,216 31.7 −7.0
Liberal Democrats Gail Coleshill 11,433 22.3 +2.7
UKIP Peter Sandell 1,754 3.4 +1.2
Green Michael Jay 670 1.3 +1.3
Majority 4,914 9.6
Turnout 51,203 76.0 +4.5
Conservative hold Swing +4.6
General election 2001: The Wrekin
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Bradley 19,532 47.1 +0.1
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg 15,945 38.4 −1.8
Liberal Democrats Ian Jenkins 4,738 11.4 −1.4
UKIP Denis Brookes 1,275 3.1 N/A
Majority 3,587 8.7
Turnout 41,490 63.1 −12.1
Labour hold Swing +0.95
General election 1997: Central Fife
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Henry McLeish 23,912 58.7 +8.3
SNP Tricia Marwick 10,199 25.0 −0.1
Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg 3,669 9.0 −8.6
Liberal Democrats Ross Laird 2,610 6.4 −0.5
Referendum John Scrymgeour-Wedderburn 375 0.9 N/A
Majority 13,713 33.6 +8.3
Turnout 40,765
Labour hold Swing

References

  1. ^ "Entry Information". FreeBMD. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Jacob Rees-Mogg". Instagram. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Gournay Court, Somerset: Remembering a Great Aunt". World War One at Home. BBC. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Meet Jacob". Jacob Rees-Mogg. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b "William Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg". The Peerage.
  6. ^ a b c Jack, Ian (24 April 2010). "In pursuit of Somerset royalty in the hyper-marginal hinterland". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Adams, Guy (19 October 2006). "Rees-Mogg: First family of fogeys". The Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  8. ^ Dennis, Charlie (21 October 2013). "This House believes that the EU is a threat to democracy". Oxford Student. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  9. ^ Fraser, Rory (2 November 2015). "Interview: Jacob-Rees Mogg". Cherwell. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  10. ^ Cumming, Shaun. "Jet-set team on the hunt for income". Fund Strategy. Centaur Media. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  11. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg". Trustnet. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  12. ^ Wright, Oliver (6 January 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg: 'I'm suspicious of politicians who try to be men of the people'". The Independent. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  13. ^ Woods, Judith (18 June 2013). "'I will never be a phoney man of the people'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  14. ^ "Lost Voices". Division of Psychology and Language Sciences UCL. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  15. ^ Mullen, John (18 June 1999). "Lost voices". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  16. ^ "Election 2010: The Wrekin". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  17. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg MP". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  18. ^ Savill, Richard (5 March 2009). "Tory candidate apologises over Sun plagiarism row". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  19. ^ "Conservatives' Jacob Rees-Mogg accused of using employee to pose as constituent". The Daily Telegraph. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  20. ^ Butt, Riazat (22 February 2008). "Archbishop orders Catholic hospital board to resign in ethics dispute". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  21. ^ Long, Camilla (11 April 2010). "Maybe he's canvassing in the King of Spain's private loo". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Election 2010 – Somerset North East". BBC News. 7 May 2010.
  23. ^ "Somerton & Frome". BBC News. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  24. ^ a b "The cult of Jacob Rees-Mogg". Total Politics. 1 July 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  25. ^ Isaby, Jonathan (15 December 2010). "Philip Hollobone continues to top the league table of backbench rebels". ConservativeHome.
  26. ^ "Voting Record — Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, North East Somerset (24926)". The Public Whip. Bairwell. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  27. ^ "Sustainable Livestock Bill". They Work for You. mySociety. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  28. ^ "Friday filibusters and mug poetry". LabourList. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  29. ^ Jacob Rees-Mogg (12 November 2010). "Sustainable Livestock Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons of the United Kingdom. col. 605.
  30. ^ "Tory MP calls for Somerset to have its own time zone". BBC News. 18 January 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  31. ^ "Clause 3 – Powers exercisable by police civilians and accredited persons". They Work for You. mySociety. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  32. ^ Silver, Katie (8 December 2011). "Council busybodies should be forced to wear bowler hats so people can spot them coming and 'scarper', Tory MPs say". Daily Mail. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  33. ^ "Remuneration of EU Staff". They Work for You. mySociety. 21 February 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  34. ^ Fryer, Jane (19 March 2013). "So Jacob, did you really go canvassing in a Bentley with your nanny? No! It was mummy's Mercedes: Jane Fryer meets the poshest man in politics". Daily Mail. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  35. ^ Westminster Hour. 12 May 2013. BBC Radio 4.
  36. ^ Edgar, James (14 January 2014). "MP dismisses £250,000 taxpayer bill for politicians's portraits as 'chicken feed'". Telegraph. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  37. ^ a b Rees-Mogg, Jacob (6 August 2013). "Zero-hours contracts: why do Lefties always think they know best?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  38. ^ Rees-Mogg, Jacob (7 May 2013). "Reunite the right: give Ukip jobs in a Conservative ministry". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  39. ^ a b Helm, Toby (1 February 2014). "Ukip pact backed by nearly half of Conservative activists". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  40. ^ Chat Politics (28 March 2014). "Jacob Rees-Mogg on Downton Abbey, the Ukraine crisis, and taking famous women to a desert island". Chat Politics. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  41. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg". Chat Politics.
  42. ^ Duffy, Nick; McCormick, Joseph Patrick (31 January 2015). "Jacob Rees-Mogg: The PM is 'rubbing in gay marriage'". Pink News. Retrieved 10 May 2015. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  43. ^ Merrick, Jane (1 February 2015). "MP Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Tory activists he is 'not proud' of gay marriage law". The Independent. Retrieved 10 May 2015. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  44. ^ "Owen Jones talks to Jacob Rees-Mogg: 'I'm not in favour of this new-age drippiness'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  45. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg MP says he would vote for Donald Trump". BBC News. 11 September 2016.
  46. ^ Elgot, Jessica (10 October 2016). "Top Tories distance themselves from Trump after groping boasts". The Guardian.
  47. ^ Heffer, Greg (20 January 2017). "The Queen is Britain's 'secret weapon' in wooing President Donald Trump, claims Tory MP". The Daily Express.
  48. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg". UK Parliament. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  49. ^ "Traditional Britain Dinner with Jacob rees-Mogg MP". Traditional Britain Group. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  50. ^ "MP Jacob Rees-Mogg: Dinner speech 'a mistake'". BBC. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  51. ^ Holehouse, Matthew (8 August 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg's shock at dinner with group that want to repatriate black Britons". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  52. ^ Morris, Nigel (8 August 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg's after-dinner speech to group calling on Doreen Lawrence to 'go home'". The Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  53. ^ Mason, Rowena (8 August 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg 'shocked' by right-wing group's attack on Lawrence". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  54. ^ Merrick, Jane (14 December 2014). "Leading Tory backbench MP Jacob Rees-Mogg 'failed to declare interests'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  55. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg will face no investigation over declaration of interests". The Bristol Post. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  56. ^ Telford, Lyndsey; Heighton, Luke (22 February 2015). "The MPs who topped up their salaries with £1,600-an-hour second jobs". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  57. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg celebrates the birth of his fourth child". This is Bath. Northcliff Media. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  58. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg announces baby Sixtus". BBC News Online. BBC. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  59. ^ Hart, Simon (28 September 2010). "Charles Lawrence Somerset Clarke eyes next hurdle". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  60. ^ Rees-Mogg, William (24 January 2007). "The wonders of Christianity (and chick-lit)". Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  61. ^ Teahan, Madeleine (2 August 2013). "Jacob Rees-Mogg: 'I think Mass can be too noisy and guitars should be banned'". The Catholic Herald. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  62. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Bath and North East Somerset Returning Officer. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  63. ^ "Somerset North East". BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  64. ^ "Katy Boyce | WhoCanIVoteFor?". Yournextmp.com. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New constituency
 Member of Parliament for North East Somerset
2010–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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