With his pinstripe suits, impeccable manners and a tendency to quote Latin, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has long cut a distinctive figure in British politics, like a curiosity from another age.
But the man once dubbed “the honourable member for the 18th century” is now doing something distinctly modern — starring with his family in a reality television series.
Describing them, though, as “the British Kardashians” is a stretch, with little, if any, resemblance between the upper-class Rees-Moggs and the glitz and bling of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe.
“In Somerset we have a mansion,” six-year-old Sixtus Rees-Mogg, the youngest of five Rees-Mogg boys in the former politician’s brood of six, announces to the camera.
“Yes, we have quite a posh accent,” adds Mary, the only Rees-Mogg daughter.
Their father, the 55-year-old son of the former editor of The Times, William Rees-Mogg, was elected as an MP for North East Somerset in rural southwest England in 2010.
A prominent advocate for the UK to leave the European Union, his parliamentary career saw him serve in Boris Johnson’s administration as “minister of state for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency” and leader of the House of Commons.
He also became business secretary in Liz Truss’s truncated premiership in 2022 but lost his seat when Labour ended 14 years of Conservative rule in July.
– Underpants –
Rees-Mogg allowed the cameras into his 17th-century country mansion and his central London home for “Meet the Rees-Moggs”, a five-part series broadcast on Discovery from Monday.
In it, he allows viewers a glimpse of the crucifix above the conjugal bed, staff ironing his underpants or polishing the family Bentley.
Others are seen erasing the graffiti attacking him as “posh” daubed on some of his election campaign posters.
“I just hope we don’t come across as completely out of touch people,” said his wife, Lady Helena, daughter of an aristocratic poet and heir to a vast art collection.
The Rees-Moggs told reporters at a screening of the series that they initially thought the offer of a reality television programme was a hoax but then warmed to the idea.
“I’ve said so many things, sometimes silly things, in the past, that there was nothing particularly I could say that made it any better or worse,” said Rees-Mogg, dressed in his trademark pinstripe suit.
In the first episode, Rees-Mogg, once a monocle-wearing schoolboy who traded stocks and shares while at the elite Eton College, is seen on the campaign trail getting insulted.
“Thank you for support!” he politely said to those who say they’ll vote for “anyone but him”.
– Snakes –
The series is likely to provoke laughter among Brits who enjoy poking fun at upper-class stuffiness.
But Rees-Mogg remains a divisive figure due to his support for Brexit and unswerving loyalty to Johnson, and, as a staunch Catholic, with his stance against same-sex marriage and abortion, even after rape.
He has also frequently spoken out against measures to combat climate change.
Rees-Mogg is not the first political figure to attempt the world of reality television.
Another arch Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, last year appeared on “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here”, in which contestants are dispatched to a camp in the Australian rainforest.
Trump-supporting Farage was seen putting his head into a box filled with snakes, eating cow’s anus and sheep’s testicles in a test of nerve unlike his career in the European Parliament.
Farage came third, and in July was elected an MP for the seaside resort of Clacton for his anti-immigration Reform UK party.
Rees-Mogg, who The Sunday Times estimated may have earned more than £10 million ($12.8 million) from his hedge fund and media work since 2010, indicated that television could help any return to the political fray.
“I’d love to stand again,” he said. “I found it a very worthwhile thing to do.”
Rees-Mogg has maintained a profile presenting a political show on the right-wing GB News television channel, where his pronouncements regularly stir debate.
But asked if he would consider a second series of “Meet the Rees-Moggs”, he quoted his political heroine.
“As Margaret Thatcher once said: ‘No, no, no, no.”
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