Politics: Brexiteer Rees-Mogg Chances Blown

Hardline Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has damaged his own chances of becoming the next Conservative Party leader by confirming jn a television interview just how conservative his views are on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

Bookmaker Paddy Power blew out the odds on Rees-Mogg replacing Theresa May from 6-1 to 40-1 after he said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he opposed abortion in all cases, even after rape or incest, and believed that gay marriage was a question for the Catholic Church rather than the British Parliament.

“I am a Catholic and I take the teachings of the Catholic Church seriously,” he said. “Marriage is a sacrament and the decision of what is a sacrament lies with the Church not with Parliament.”

“It’s all very well to say we live in a multicultural country… until you’re a Christian, until you hold the traditional views of the Catholic Church, and that seems to me fundamentally wrong. People are entitled to hold these views.”

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the Tory MP’s views were “extreme” and “wildly at odds” with those of the British public, which strongly backed abortion rights.

Some new wagers on Rees-Mogg saw Paddy Power’s odds on the MP for North East Somerset becoming Tory leader recover from 40-1 to 10-1 in the hours after the interview, placing him on the same footing as Amber Rudd (10-1) but behind front-runner Davis Davis (3-1), Philip Hammond (6-1) and Boris Johnson (8-1).

Rees-Mogg’s television interview came the day after a poll of Tory Party activists by the political blog ConservativeHome had named him for the first time as the party members’ favourite to be next leader. Previous front-runner Davis was preferred by 15% of respondents compared to 23% for Rees-Mogg.

There has been speculation that Rees-Mogg could be given his first ministerial role in an expected reshuffle to lift his profile. 

Poshness

“In our view, Jacob Rees-Mogg is the beneficiary of party member disillusion with the present senior options for replacing Theresa May,” said ConservativeHome. “This, in turn, shows the knock-on effects, first, of an EU referendum campaign that those members evidently found divisive (despite their strong support for Brexit); second, of a sense that the collective leadership of the party failed during the general election campaign and, third, of a Corbyn factor – that’s to say, of a yearning for clarity, authenticity and commitment, made all the more pressing by the Party now having been in government since 2010.”

Known as the “Honourable Member for the 18th Century”, Rees-Mogg has no record of senior office and a staunchly Right-wing voting record including opposing initiatives such as gay marriage and the Fitness for Human Habitation Bill, which sought to protect basic living standards for low-income tenants.

Even the conservative website laughed off the prospect of him ever becoming Prime Minister. “For all his intelligence, wit and fearlessness, this site suspects that Rees-Mogg as leader would be unable to overleap the legend of the nanny and the poshness and the supposed out-of-touchness, and cut through in the marginal seats, especially in the Midlands and the North, that the Tories need to win their first full majority since 1987,” it said.

Rees-Mogg has said he is not interested in a ministerial position and believes his role remains with his constituents in North East Somerset. Even a ministerial role would be a leap for him. In a recent election for the chair of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee he was beaten by Nicky Morgan, a dumped minister and former Remain advocate who is out of favour with both the party’s leadership and its “hard Brexit” faction.

by Stewart Vickers

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