Despite all the clear warnings and obvious drawbacks in the idea, an increasing number of Tory MPs and hangers-on have allowed themselves to be persuaded that it would actually be A Very Good Idea to have Jacob Rees Mogg as the party’s next leader. The MP for North East Somerset is certainly not short on ambition, but the idea that the public would take to him, when they wouldn’t vote for Theresa May, is laughable.
Grace Dent in the Independent tried to break the news gently to Independent readers recently: “Rees-Mogg says he has never changed a nappy. In 2004 he went canvassing with his former nanny Veronica, the woman who used to wipe his own bottom. And he's told us loud and clear what he really stands for, although Mumsnet forums seem not to want to listen”. And what does Sir really stand for?
“Rees-Mogg is against same sex marriage, just like his DUP chums. He wants to repeal the Human Rights Act. He thinks zero hours contracts are a favourable thing and seemingly has no interest or urgency on climate change”. That last explains why, over at the Spectator, James “saviour of Western civilisation” Delingpole has been so keen to laud Mogg as if he were the Second Coming of Christ himself.
“I’d vote for him like a shot. And what I find encouraging is that the main, all-too-predictable charge being laid against him by his critics - that he’s too posh - just isn’t having much effect” drools Del Boy, demonstrating that those at the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart need to Get Out More.
Anne Sutherland at ConHome also believes that Rees Mogg should be the next Tory leader, telling anyone who will listen “Rees-Mogg is a superior orator with a wealth of knowledge behind him, giving him the unique ability to explain the most complex of issues”. And not a patronising toff who wants the lower orders to know their place.
But anyone in and around the Labour leadership will not be quaking in their boots, because Rees Mogg’s recent form shows why, while some in the Tory faithful may adore him, once the electorate knows just what he’s at, they will collectively run a mile.
Apart from being against same sex marriage, he wants to cut benefits given half a chance, and wants our military to go off and get involved in conflicts overseas, while not strengthening the military covenant back home. I mean, these servicemen ought to be grateful to go and serve - what do they expect from the state, a decent retirement?
And then there was his support of, and attendance at a dinner hosted by, the Traditional Britain Group, that motley assemblage of racist bigots who like to talk about repatriating black and Asian Britons. It was only after he was called out for cosying up to the Tories’ far-right fringe that he realised it might be a good idea to show some regret.
With all of that in his baggage, Labour need have no fear of Jacob Rees Mogg as Tory leader. So bring him on, clueless Conservative mugs. Give us all a good laugh.
5 comments:
Because another Old Etonian is just what the country needs to get itself back on track.
Think that 'From Arse to Elbow' pegged the current state of the Tory party correctly over at the stumblingandmumbling blog:
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2017/08/tories-vs-the-21st-century.html?cid=6a00d83451cbef69e201bb09b50bf9970d#comment-6a00d83451cbef69e201bb09b50bf9970d
Excuse the extensive quote:
"The Tories' current electoral prospects are dependent on motivating that tranche of social reactionaries who drifted away from voting after the mid-90s and returned for the EU referendum, but doing so will likely further alienate both liberals and the more pragmatic conservatives.
May's problem is not that her core support sees the 21st century as a refutation of their beliefs but that they consider it to have been the product of a conspiracy by liberal entryists into the Conservative Party (this idea was key to UKIP's growth). They want to actively reverse the liberal gains that the Tories oversaw, from the EU single market to gay marriage.
The Tories are at war with their recent history but, averse to dissing the Blessed Margaret, they are forced to imagine a fantasy land that predates her and the "liberal 60s". This explains why so many Tory reactionaries in their 60s and 70s valorise decades, the 40s and 50s, that few had any adult memory of. "
Mogg is a nonstarter and if they can't see that, they deserve to die as a party.
Trouble is, there are a lot of people out there who think JR-M is exactly the sort of person we need to run the UK - posh (so they can know their place) and speaks with an RP accent - how British.
If the Mogg arse head ever gets to lead the tories we can assume they've finally left Planet Earth.
Nobody in their right mind trusts somebody who looks and sounds as though he/she has a leaking lemon wedged in their anal canal.
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