Jacob rees-mogg

With David Cameron in Chippenham, it was left to the Europe Minister David Lidington to respond to Jeremy Corbyn’s urgent question. Cameron’s absence was poor form. Lidington manfully tried to claim that it was explained by the fact the government didn’t know when Tusk would publish the draft, but the media were only alerted that Cameron would give a speech in Chippenham after Tusk had said the deal would be announced at midday today. Number 10 is defending Cameron’s absence by pointing to the fact he’d already decided to give a statement to parliament tomorrow—once the MPs have had a chance to examine the deal. But it was entirely predictable

Last night David Dimbleby was joined on Question Time by a panel comprised of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Piers Morgan, Emily Thornberry, Mark Reckless and Hannah Bardell. As talk turned to the prospect of Heathrow expansion, Rees-Mogg — who supports the plans — said that for all the fuss about noise caused by planes, he had suffered few problems with this when he lived near Slough. At which point Dimbleby couldn’t help but interrupt and change the topic — asking if this had been when the Tory MP attended Eton. Alas for all of Dimbleby’s wit, the BBC presenter — who attended Charterhouse — received a reply that he had not been expecting. Rees-Mogg proceeded

While Mhairi Black has made no secret of her dislike for the Tories, she has at least found words of praise for one Conservative MP. Speaking earlier this year, the SNP MP spoke of her admiration for Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘I could sit and listen to him all day, I disagree with him 99.9 per cent of the time, and that wee percent is just because he’s got good manners. But I love listening to him, his knowledge is incredible, and he’s so polite.’ Now Rees-Mogg has returned the favour. At last night’s annual Freedom Association’s Christmas Quiz at the Barley Mow, Rees-Mogg took time out of his quizmaster duties to wax lyrical

The government needs to get thinking quickly about a new tax credits proposal that is acceptable to the Commons and the Lords. George Osborne will deliver his Autumn Statement in four weeks’ time and he has promised to outline the results of his ‘listening’ exercise. This afternoon’s debate on a backbench motion about the cuts showed that Conservatives support phasing out tax credits, but the main concerns expressed were over the speed of the transition. Notably, 20 Tory MPs supported the Labour motion criticising the cuts — including Bernard Jenkin, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Heidi Allen. According to a report in the Guardian, Osborne has given himself ‘wiggle room’ in his deficit reduction plan

Jacob Rees-Mogg told the House on Thursday that his favourite activity is making speeches on Europe and ‘if the House isn’t sitting, I do it at home’. That’s not the only place he opines on the subject. Mr S was enjoying some supper at the Savile Club on Wednesday evening, with his comrades from ‘Conservatives for Liberty’. The noble sounding group is made up of your average Tory boys, with facial hair that would not have looked out of place in the Continental Army circa 1776. While the evening was meant to be a celebration of the Magna Carta, with David Davis and John Redwood in attendance, the conversation in the room kept going

Lord Ashcroft has released his latest round of polling, looking at ten competitive Tory-Labour seats. In all of the constituencies, Ashcroft has reported swings to Labour, ranging from 0.5 per cent to seven per cent. At present, five of the seats are set to remain with the Conservatives: Cleethorpes, Dover, Dudley South, Harlow and North East Somerset. Some of the Tory leads are considerable: Rob Halfon in Harlow has a ten point lead, while Jacob Rees-Mogg in North East Somerset has a 16 point lead. Use the interactive chart above to see all the latest polls for each seat. Equally, the other half of the seats Ashcroft has polled are looking

Is Jacob Rees-Mogg confident about reelection in North East Somerset? For the latest Mini Election video, I visited the West Country to speak to Jacob (and his son Peter) about his efforts to hold onto his marginal seat in the upcoming election. Although he was victorious in 2010 with a comfortable majority of 4,91,  the constituency was held by Labour — albeit under different boundaries — so he has been campaigning almost non-stop for the last few years. Does he think that British elections are generally becoming too American? We also discussed his long-held belief that the Conservative Party needs to have an electoral pact with Ukip and whether it is

The government’s vote on the European Arrest Warrant this evening is becoming rather confused. The motion does not include a mention of the warrant itself, which ministers had hoped would have a psychological effect on MPs considering how to vote, as the division would not be solely about the most contentious measure. The motion is as follows: ‘That the draft Criminal Justice and Data Protection (Protocol No. 36) Regulations 2014, which were laid before this House on 3 November, be approved.’ The chairmen of three select committees last week described the voting arrangements for this evening. Keith Vaz, Home Affairs Select Committee chair, Bill Cash, chair of the European Scrutiny

Policy Exchange’s report on the face of modern Britain this morning is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the way this country has changed and will change in years to come. But it is especially fascinating reading for those wondering how on earth the Conservative party can appeal to ethnic minority voters. This is partly because it makes quite clear that the party is currently not appealing to those voters: indeed, while politicians have a bad habit of lumping ‘ethnic minority’ voters together without good cause, the one thing that does lump these groups together is a reluctance to vote Conservative. The killer facts in the report on political engagement

Normally you might lump Nigel Farage and Bill Cash together on the political spectrum. But today there wasn’t much love lost between them, judging by their almighty clash at a Bruges Group fringe today. The Ukip leader aimed both barrels at Cash, who had asked Farage not to fight Tories in marginal seats: ‘I have to say Bill, and I hate to say this, but listening to you this afternoon I’ve realised that you are a hopelessly, out of date tribal politician who has not recognised that British politics has fundamentally changed. ‘To ask me, to support a party lead by Mr Cameron, in order we can get back our

‘I thought it would hurt more than it did’ one loyalist minister remarked after last night’s government defeat on the EU budget. The fact that the vote isn’t going to bring the government down or bind its hands is what is consoling Cameron loyalists. They are also pointing out that the Eurosceptic vote split with Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and Andrea Leadsom staying on the government side this time. But what should worry Number 10 about this rebellion is its flash mob nature. As Isabel pointed out last night, there wasn’t — unlike with the Lords revolt or the EU referendum vote — months of planning put into this one.

At PMQs today, David Cameron will need to go some distance to meet his backbenchers and head off a government defeat tonight on the EU budget. He’ll need to say that he personally would like to see the EU Budget reduced and that if other countries are prepared to agree to that, he’d be delighted. But that the one thing he’ll guarantee is that he’ll veto any real terms increase. He’ll also need to take the fight to Labour on the matter, pointing out how Blair gave up a chunk of the rebate for the vaguest of promises on CAP reform. Part of the reason that Europe votes keep causing

Nick Clegg came to the Commons today to both praise and bury House of Lords reform, for this parliament at least. In a light-hearted start, Clegg informed the House that he was here to update it on ‘House of Lords reform or what’s left of it’. But this light-hearted mood didn’t last long. Soon Clegg and Harman were trading blows, with the Deputy Prime Minister accusing Labour of having behaved like miserable, little party point scoring politicians’ in refusing to back the idea of a timetable motion. Things turned really sour when Clegg’s Tory backbench tormentors got to their feet. Malcolm Rifkind, whose speech against had helped sink the bill,