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What makes Jacob Rees-Mogg tick? </h1>
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<a class="gmail-sf-author__link" href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/author/francis-phillips/" rel="author"><span>Francis Phillips</span></a></div><div class="gmail-sf-article-content"><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2019/11/15/what-makes-jacob-rees-mogg-tick/">https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2019/11/15/what-makes-jacob-rees-mogg-tick/</a><div class="gmail-sf-article-content__text">
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Michael Ashcroft has written a shrewd yet sympathetic <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>portrait of an intriguing politician </b></span></p>
<p>Michael Ashcroft’s biography of <strong>Jacob Rees-Mogg</strong>
(Biteback Publishing £20) makes for interesting reading. Although
described as “unauthorised”, it is a shrewd yet sympathetic portrait of
an intriguing politician, written by a major Conservative Party
philanthropist and author with a special interest in courage (he is a
collector of VC medals). Ashcroft gives two reasons for his choice of
subject-matter: <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Rees-Mogg is a prominent Conservative MP and “he is
young enough to have a substantial future in politics.”</b></span></p>
<p>Prominent, yes; but prime minister by the age of 70, which was
Rees-Mogg’s youthful ambition? I think not, though Ashcroft’s book
concludes with an open-ended question on this. Having read it, I still
think his subject is too unusual in his style and manner, too out of
step with the modern demand of being “woke”, which has inevitably
affected the behaviour of almost all public figures, to be a realistic
candidate to lead the 21st century Tory Party. But I also think Ashcroft
is intrigued by the idea of courage: a thread running through his book
is that it takes courage to stand out against popular attitudes towards
morality and religion, as his subject unfailingly does.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>A school-friend from Rees-Mogg’s Eton schooldays, in which he was
noted for his dress, mannerisms and independence of thought, commented
that “It took courage to be him” and the wife of Rees-Mogg’s housemaster
made the telling remark that he refused to be a victim “First he was
derided, then tolerated, then greatly respected.” This, to a large
extent, has been true of his parliamentary career. When your class enemy
is always calm under fire, invariably courteous but never giving an
inch on fundamental principles, you have to admire this consistency,
confidence – and courage.</b></span></p>
<p>Leaving aside his subject’s<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> clearly very happy marriage and family
life,</b></span> it is obvious from this book that <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the most significant influence
on Rees-Mogg’s was his father, William Rees-Mogg, former editor of The
Times, with whom he had an exceptionally close relationship. Neither his
mother nor his wife are Catholics</b></span>; apart from anything else, <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>it was
from his father that he imbibed his strong religious faith – and his
love of Somerset, where the Mogg side of the family has roots going back
to the 13th century.</b></span> Indeed, when, after two failed attempts to enter
Parliament Rees-Mogg won North East Somerset, he told his friend, MP
Simon Hoare, whom he has known since Oxford, “I’ve died and gone to
heaven.” It is not an affectation when he describes himself as “a man of
Somerset.”</p>
<p>Hoare also states that his friend <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>hasn’t got “a snobbish bone in his
body. He will talk to anybody.” This will come as a surprise to those
who jump to conclusions based on Rees-Mogg’s refusal to modify his
accent and his love of double-breasted suits,</b></span> but it is borne out by
Ashcroft’s account. At his wedding reception, an attendee said he sat
next to Rees-Mogg’s postman. He <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>has also taken his nanny, a much-loved
figure in the whole Rees-Mogg family, to Glyndebourne – along with the
Filipino maid he brought back to work for him in the UK after a
three-year stint working in Hong Kong</b></span>, and whom it is said he taught to
make bread-and-butter pudding while he lived there.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>That Rees-Mogg is very rich and that he has been interested in making
money since boyhood, when his father would give him a £1 a week pocket
money in an annual sum so that he could invest it, is not in doubt. He
also has a weakness for chocolate, noticeable since his Eton and Oxford
days and, it has to be said, for the limelight. Even before reading this
biography I had noted its subject’s penchant for being ready and
available to address the media with aplomb outside Westminster during
the febrile final months of Theresa May’s premiership. He is a natural
performer.</b></span></p>
<p>Nonetheless, Ashcroft recognises that the key to his subject, which
underlies everything else –<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> his Tory principles, his wealth, his
sartorial sense, his characteristic foibles – is his Catholic faith</b></span>. In
an almost impossible feat, given the media’s hostility to those who
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>stick to Christian teachings on marriage and the sanctity of life,
</b><b>Rees-Mogg manages to make his beliefs sound coherent, thoughtful and
steadfast</b></span>. He has said of his faith, “If you are doing something
different, you need to have a confidence that it is important.”<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> He is
unrepentant about taking his “whip from Rome” on moral matters.</b></span></p>
<p>In this respect, I think one of the quotes singled out by Ashcroft
explains Rees-Mogg’s character. At an event in February 2019 organised
by The Spectator, he stated, “I greatly dislike the term “ordinary
people” because<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b> there is no such thing as an “ordinary person”. Each
person is special. And if you are special in God’s eyes, you ought to be
special to your elected representatives – all the more so. That
underpins everything I want to do politically.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>To live out that kind of principled conduct, integrity and courtesy
is rare in a politician.</b></span> Like Ashcroft, I hope Rees-Mogg does have a
substantial future in politics.</p>
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