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Logo used by the Moggmentum campaign

Moggmentum is an online right-wing campaign and grassroots movement supporting Jacob Rees-Mogg, in a similar fashion to the 2015 phenomena of Milifandom and Momentum. The movement includes pressure for Rees-Mogg to become the Leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Comparisons between Moggmentum and the Tea Party movement in the United States have been made with regard to their supporting "rightwing ideas, grassroots activism and shaking up the conservative establishment".[1]

History

In May 2017, during the general election campaign, Rees-Mogg posted a picture on Instagram of himself and his son standing outside a tattoo parlour in his constituency that was displaying a "Vote Labour" poster alongside a poster reading "Keep sane and don't vote Tory"; his picture was captioned: "We shall have to take our business elsewhere".[2][3] As a result, the hashtag Moggmentum began to trend on Twitter.

Rees-Mogg, official portrait

The hashtag Moggmentum began to trend again in June 2017, as a result of Rees-Mogg interrupting Jeremy Corbyn during the debate on the Queen's Speech, an act that was criticised by Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.[4] Following the speech, a series of memes were created with Rees-Mogg as the subject.[5] A petition was started to make Rees-Mogg Prime Minister; it gained £7,000 in support funding[6] and 13,000 signatures over the next two days.[7]

On 7 July 2017, Rees-Mogg gained significant publicity as the potential next Conservative Party leader when major news outlets began releasing articles about the subject. According to Pollstation, at the time, Rees-Mogg had an opinion polling of 60% to take over as Conservative Party leader,[8] with Boris Johnson following with 12% of the votes. On the same day, betting odds were "slashed" from 50/1 to 16/1 on Oddschecker; this was directly attributed to the campaign.[9][10]

In late July and early August 2017, Moggmentum was featured in a number of foreign media, including prominent publications such as: Belgian De Redactie,[11] American The National Interest[12] and Polish Wprost.[13] It was reported in early August that Ross Atkinson, a Rees-Mogg supporter, had been tattooed with the Moggmentum logo.[14]

Some of these Facebook groups included "Tory councillors, officials and agents".[15] In March 2019, 14 Conservative Party members were expelled after they were found to have posted Islamophobic comments in a pro-Mogg Facebook group.[16][17]

Responses

The BBC released a trending subject article on the movement on 3 July 2017, and two days later a two-minute video was added to the BBC website summarising the phenomenon.[18][19]

On 12 and 17 July, the New Statesman and The New European published articles calling the movement a cult.[20][21] The latter published another piece on 19 August, penned by Bonnie Greer, who called Rees-Mogg a "false memory".[22]

In 2018, as part of a Sunday Times investigation into online abuse following comments made by Boris Johnson regarding the niqab and media controversy regarding alleged Conservative Islamophobia,[23] it was reported that a number of Facebook groups supportive of Rees-Mogg and Johnson were leaving "widespread" Islamophobic and racist comments on Johnson's Facebook page, including: support for Enoch Powell and his Rivers of Blood speech, incitement to violence and murder against Muslims, Islamophobic attacks on London mayor Sadiq Khan and support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson. In response, Rees-Mogg said he was supporting a private member's bill put forward by Labour MP Lucy Powell to regulate social media, and added "people who have these types of views should take no solace in using [Johnson's] comments as an excuse to take this approach".[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Stewart, Heather; Mason, Rowena (1 December 2017). "Jacob Rees-Mogg met Steve Bannon to discuss US-UK politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Instagram post by Jacob Rees-Mogg • May 31, 2017 at 8:11pm UTC". Instagram. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg's social media posts gain mass following as the local MP enters the digital age". Chew Valley Gazette. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  4. ^ Ovens, Ruth (4 July 2017). "5 times Jacob Rees-Mogg became an internet star with #Moggmentum".
  5. ^ "#moggmentum: unlikely movement to make Jacob Rees-Mogg Prime Minister". 30 June 2017.
  6. ^ Nickalls, Amy (28 August 2017). "Gillingham resident starts petition for Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg to run for party leader". Kent Online. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  7. ^ Ovens, Ruth (7 July 2017). "'Moggmentum' continues with North Somerset MP's Question Time appearance".
  8. ^ "Who Should be the Next Conservative Party Leader?".
  9. ^ Morrison, Caitlin (7 July 2017). "Odds slashed on Jacob Rees-Mogg to replace Theresa May as Tory leader". Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Jacob Rees-Mogg in "serious contention" to become the next leader of the Conservative party". 7 July 2017.
  11. ^ De Paepe, Harry (15 July 2017). "Stoot de "Mogg mania" Theresa May van haar troon? - Harry De Paepe". De Redactie. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  12. ^ Mills, Curt (26 July 2017). "This Outlandish Aristocrat Could Be the Next British Prime Minister". The National Interest. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  13. ^ Mielnik, Jakub (20 August 2017). "Buława w butonierce". Wprost. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  14. ^ "Rees-Mogg: 'It isn't realistic' to be next Conservative leader". ITV News. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  15. ^ Wheeler, Caroline; Walters, Tommy; Forbes, Felix (19 August 2018). "Boris Johnson's Facebook page mobbed by racists after burqa furore". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Tory party suspends 14 members for posting Islamophobic or racist comments online". The Independent. 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  17. ^ "Sajid Javid playing 'dog whistle politics' and right-wing think he's 'too Muslim' to be leader, Baroness Warsi says". The Independent. 6 March 2019. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Social media appeal of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg". BBC News.
  19. ^ Trending, Hannah Henderson BBC (3 July 2017). "Jacob Rees-Mogg: The Conservative MP who's an unlikely social media star". BBC News.
  20. ^ Garnier, Mark (12 July 2017). "Understanding #Moggmentum: the hollow cult of Jacob Rees-Mogg". New Statesman. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  21. ^ Tapley, Nathaniel (17 July 2017). "Moggmentum: Rees-Mogg mania and what it says about us". The New European. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  22. ^ Greer, Bonnie (19 August 2017). "Jacob Rees Mogg and the Prime Ministry of Silly Season". The New European. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  23. ^ Forbes, Caroline Wheeler, Tommy Walters and Felix. "Boris Johnson's Facebook page mobbed by racists after burqa furore". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 December 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Wheeler, Caroline; Walters, Tommy; Forbes, Felix (19 August 2018). "Boris Johnson's Facebook page mobbed by racists after burqa furore". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
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