Rees-Mogg reinvents himself as a comedian?

[AndrewE]

Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘very strongly’ considering standing for election again

Former minister said Conservatives had ‘deserved’ to lose power and that he had not been shocked to lose his seat

www.theguardian.com

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is “very strongly” considering standing at the next general election after losing his seat to Labour.

The former Tory cabinet minister told an audience at the Edinburgh fringe festival ...

Other comics need the money more than he does...

 

[brad465]

He has certainly helped the comedy industry a lot over the years he's been in Parliament...

 

[GusB]

I have no words...

(Well, actually I do, but they certainly won't be in line with forum rules)

*Edit* This is priceless (from the article in the OP):

Speaking as part of The Political Party show with Matt Forde on Sunday, Rees-Mogg said he did not think the Tories could have “overcome a 20% deficit in the opinion polls”, adding: “I wrote to my children at boarding school before the election to say ‘Look, I will probably lose.’ I tried my best to warn them that I was going to lose my seat.

Not quite the same as "daddy's about to lose his job in the steel mill/coal mine* and we don't how to make ends meet; things may be tough for a while", is it? Rees-Mogg is a complete moron who is so out of touch with reality.

*Insert other job as appropriate.

 

[yorkie]

He is completely out of touch and has been since a young age.

Check out this video of him as a child:

He was born in May 1969, and the description of the video states September 1982, so would have been only 12/13 years old, and yet his attitude is completely removed from any 12/13 year old I've ever met. Being obsessed over money at any age, let alone that age, isn't healthy. I don't think I've ever met anyone of any age that obsessed with Thatcher, either!

I guess he is bringing his kids up the same way, thus depriving them of a proper childhood.

As he is so out of touch with ordinary people, he has no idea how he comes across to others, and this is demonstrated by his outrageous comments and behaviour.

 

[Busaholic]

He is completely out of touch and has been since a young age.

Check out this video of him as a child:

He was born in May 1969, and the description of the video states September 1982, so would have been only 12/13 years old, and yet his attitude is completely removed from any 12/13 year old I've ever met. Being obsessed over money at any age, let alone that age, isn't healthy. I don't think I've ever met anyone of any age that obsessed with Thatcher, either!

I guess he is bringing his kids up the same way, thus depriving them of a proper childhood.

As he is so out of touch with ordinary people, he has no idea how he comes across to others, and this is demonstrated by his outrageous comments and behaviour.

Yet he revealed in a Times newspaper magazine article a few years ago that his maternal grandfather had been a lorry driver, though he quickly changed the subject in the interview when his children's nanny came into the room!

 

[Egg Centric]

He is completely out of touch and has been since a young age.

Check out this video of him as a child:

He was born in May 1969, and the description of the video states September 1982, so would have been only 12/13 years old, and yet his attitude is completely removed from any 12/13 year old I've ever met. Being obsessed over money at any age, let alone that age, isn't healthy. I don't think I've ever met anyone of any age that obsessed with Thatcher, either!

I guess he is bringing his kids up the same way, thus depriving them of a proper childhood.

As he is so out of touch with ordinary people, he has no idea how he comes across to others, and this is demonstrated by his outrageous comments and behaviour.

On the other hand, that's one of the most hilarious videos I've seen this week! I would have honestly thought it total parody if I wasn't familiar with what he became.

And he does seem to be popular with colleagues (former colleagues now ) from across the political spectrum. Since he hasn't any power and never really did can't we just enjoy this eccentricity and silliness? It's bastards like Robert Jenrick we should be concerned about.

 

[ainsworth74]

I always thought his first foray into standing for election as MP was quite amusing. Mr Rees-Mogg campaigning in the seat of Central Fife in 1997 was never really going to go well as the Scotsman related many years later:

Looking back: When a young Jacob Rees-Mogg campaigned in Scotland with his nanny​

Jacob Rees-Mogg has come a long way since his modest entry into politics two decades ago as the Tory candidate for the seat of Central Fife.​

The Scotsman recalls his first foray into Scottish politics.

Brexit campaigner Jacob Rees-Mogg started his political career back in 1997

Rees-Mogg was just 27 when he was selected by the Conservatives to contest Central Fife – a traditional Labour seat – at the 1997 general election.

The Etonian travelled to Scotland with a mind to hitting the campaign trail, but his upper-class background soon put him at odds with a largely working-class electorate.

The son of late Times editor William, Rees-Mogg made the inauspicious decision to knock on doors in the former mining town of Leven on the Fife coast.

But reports quickly emerged of the English candidate taking the family’s nanny, Veronica Crook, in tow during canvassing while driving around the back streets of Fife in a Bentley.

Rees-Mogg turned into cannon fodder, particularly for the tabloid newspapers.

He was photographed in a pin-stripe suit visiting the doors of constituents in the Broom estate in Leven.

Declarations by Rees-Mogg that people on benefits were the “scourge of the earth” didn’t help his position.

Adding to his back story were reports of Rees-Mogg having to be saved by his Labour opponent Henry McLeish from being beaten up.

McLeish told the Daily Record earlier this year: “At one point, somebody threatened to come onto the platform and beat him up.

“A touching part to that was that after saving him from a potential duffing up, his father, the very distinguished editor of the Times, William Rees-Mogg, sent me a letter thanking me for how I’d managed to protect him, for which he was very grateful.

“It was a delightful letter, basically saying ‘I don’t often write to Labour MPs, but I would like to thank you very, very sincerely for the way you looked after my son’.

“Jacob was like a fish out of water and clearly bewildered by places like Methil and Kennoway.

[...]

Rees-Mogg later clarified he had been driving his mother’s Mercedes Benz during canvassing – and not the Bentley that soon made him a source of public ridicule.

“The nanny bit is right,” Rees-Mogg confirmed in 2013.

“Of course she came canvassing, she’s part of the family after all. She’s been with us for 47 years.”

But despite his family owning two classing Bentleys at the time, the former investment banker stressed: “We took my mother’s Mercedes Estate.

“I don’t think a Bentley’s a suitable campaigning car. It was the petrol consumption – six miles to the gallon.”

Rees-Mogg, now 50, would go on to finish a distant third in polling for the electorate, receiving just 9 per cent of the votes in Central Fife.

[...]

Looking back: When a young Jacob Rees-Mogg campaigned in Scotland with his nanny

Jacob Rees-Mogg has come a long way since his modest entry into politics two decades ago as the Tory candidate for the seat of Central Fife.

www.scotsman.com

 

[Robin Edwards]

of equal comedy but bemusing to me is why people are drawn to vote for the likes of JRM? An aptitude for being deceived by a posh voice and an overwhelming sense of entitlement to rule?

 

[gg1]

I don't think I've ever met anyone of any age that obsessed with Thatcher, either!

A young William Hague would probably have given him a good run for his money there.

 

[edwin_m]

of equal comedy but bemusing to me is why people are drawn to vote for the likes of JRM? An aptitude for being deceived by a posh voice and an overwhelming sense of entitlement to rule?

Standing in a seat where, until recently, a donkey with a Tory rosette would have been elected. People of his ilk don't have the skills to win in a marginal.

 

[BrianW]

He is completely out of touch and has been since a young age.

Check out this video of him as a child:

He was born in May 1969, and the description of the video states September 1982, so would have been only 12/13 years old, and yet his attitude is completely removed from any 12/13 year old I've ever met. Being obsessed over money at any age, let alone that age, isn't healthy. I don't think I've ever met anyone of any age that obsessed with Thatcher, either!

I guess he is bringing his kids up the same way, thus depriving them of a proper childhood.

As he is so out of touch with ordinary people, he has no idea how he comes across to others, and this is demonstrated by his outrageous comments and behaviour.

What a laugh, if one may say so. Such a loss to parliament, I don't think, squire.

 

[Robin Edwards]

Standing in a seat where, until recently, a donkey with a Tory rosette would have been elected. People of his ilk don't have the skills to win in a marginal.

My point exactly - what sort of grownup votes for donkeys with their favoured colour rosette?

 

[sprunt]

My point exactly - what sort of grownup votes for donkeys with their favoured colour rosette?

One who's aware that about 95% of what the candidate will do if elected is a function of the colour of rosette they wear?

 

[DerekC]

I recall seeing a TV item which featured one of JRM's MP surgeries, and I was extremely surprised by his apparent ability to listen to and empathise with individual problems. Maybe he has a good side.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I have no words...

(Well, actually I do, but they certainly won't be in line with forum rules)

Let me try please. The first letter begins with “W” and then the rest of the word is a brand of butter or something the is used to tie a ship down.

 

[Falcon1200]

I recall seeing a TV item which featured one of JRM's MP surgeries, and I was extremely surprised by his apparent ability to listen to and empathise with individual problems. Maybe he has a good side.

I once heard him being interviewed on the radio, and the subject of abortion, to which he is opposed due to his Catholic faith, came up; Despite the interviewer's best efforts to rile him and make what might be classed as 'outrageous' statements, he remained calm and polite throughout.

I do not agree with his politics, but being a rich Tory does not automatically make him an evil moron.

 

[ainsworth74]

I recall seeing a TV item which featured one of JRM's MP surgeries, and I was extremely surprised by his apparent ability to listen to and empathise with individual problems. Maybe he has a good side.

The impression I've always had is that he has a certain charisma and is quite personable. The problem is his political opinions. I can well imagine him listening attentively and offering real empathy/sympathy to a distressed constituent whilst at the same time in another setting arguing forcefully for policies which will either have gotten that constituent into whatever predicament they are now in or will do nothing to improve them.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Despite the interviewer's best efforts to rile him and make what might be classed as 'outrageous' statements, he remained calm and polite throughout.

It is a great strength to have. One of my weaknesses is I struggle to remain calm when asked outrageous questions.

 

[E27007]

7m12 seconds, do you ever intend to get married?

Do you intend?

JRM has figured out marriage!

 

[RT4038]

The impression I've always had is that he has a certain charisma and is quite personable. The problem is his political opinions. I can well imagine him listening attentively and offering real empathy/sympathy to a distressed constituent whilst at the same time in another setting arguing forcefully for policies which will either have gotten that constituent into whatever predicament they are now in or will do nothing to improve them.

He will probably have listened and realised that the distressed constituent has got themselves wholly or partly to blame for the situation that they find themselves in (and that a proportion of others in the same boat will have too). He would then weigh up whether funding for alleviating their plight would be better utilised on some alternative policy (or not). Which is the kind of thing politicians have to do all the time, irrespective of party affiliation.

 

[ainsworth74]

He will probably have listened and realised that the distressed constituent has got themselves wholly or partly to blame for the situation that they find themselves in (and that a proportion of others in the same boat will have too). He would then weigh up whether funding for alleviating their plight would be better utilised on some alternative policy (or not). Which is the kind of thing politicians have to do all the time, irrespective of party affiliation.

Perhaps. But with the sort of small state view he takes and his general political approach I suspect it's more likely my scenario than yours.

 

[Gloster]

I would think that in a TV programme showing Rees-Mogg in a constituency surgery, he or his minions would make sure that all cases he dealt with on camera would be ones that make him look sympathetic and helpful. (To be fair, just about any MP would do the same.) This presumes that they are genuine constituents with problems and not party officials or members masquerading as ones. (He has form: there was the case in 2009 of him having a member of his London (?) staff pretend to be a constituent in a photo in a leaflet.)