Ten things you didn’t know about Britain’s best known recliner Jacob Rees-Mogg

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JACOB Rees-Mogg is one of the most recognisable people in British politics.

The Leader of the Commons has been at the heart of the Brexit story from the word go and has become something of a cult figure.

A recumbent Rees-Mogg listening to a debate on the future of Brexit

But there are somethings about the MP, known affectionately as the Honourable Member for the 18th Century, that might surprise you.

Here HOAR Online gives you the top ten surprising things about the eccentric Tory.

His grandfather was a lorry driver

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s grandfather was a lorry driver according to the 1939 census

Though Mr Rees-Mogg does indeed look a picture of the British upper classes, some of his ancestors weren’t averse to a bit of manual labour.

His maternal grandfather is listed in the 1939 census taken at the out break of the Second World War as a “motor lorry driver”.

But Timothy Richard Morris did indeed rise up to eventually become a Tory councillor and eventually Mayor of St Pancras.

His wife is a hard rock loving heiress who wore a tongue stud up until they married

His wife, Helena De Chair, is reportedly a fan of hard rock which jars slightly with her husband’s more classical inclinations

Jacob’s wife, Helena de Chair, had a different university experience to her now husband.

Helena, daughter of famed poet Somerset de Chair and Lady Juliet Tadgell (worth an estimated £45m), was reportedly a hard rock loving young lass who wore a tongue stud up until she was made a Mogg.

Their differing music tastes have caused her hubby embarrassment down the years when Jacob mistook the RHCP abbreviation for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to mean Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioners in an email.

His  food choices are as eccentric as he is

Jacob is a big fan of very British grub

Rees-Mogg may be the most stereotypically upper class Englishman alive today and apparently that is reflected in his appetites.

The Leader of the Commons allegedly hates foreign food with a pal saying if they went to a curry house, he’d have an omelette and chips.

Jacob also apparently particularly doesn’t care for bananas, and even when he was living in Hong Kong would have his maid rustle up English classics like bread and butter pudding rather than local Chinese treats.

He does let his culinary tastes veer outside of Britain for his booze, being a big fan of Claret and Champagne.

When he eats out, he reportedly always orders smoked salmon followed by steak and chips and, to avoid airline food, gets nanny to knock up some beef sandwiches for the journey.

He also reportedly absolutely loves Cadbury’s Creme Eggs and puts sugar on his Frosties.

He was something of a sex symbol at Oxford

Mogg pictured in the Oxford student paper Cherwell during his time at University

Despite never having any girlfriends at university, friends from the time say a fair few young ladies had the hots for him while there.

His pal Huw van Steenis was quoted in a new biography of Rees-Mogg saying: “I know there were lots of girls who had crushes on him. He was charming, witty and fun to debate with.

“I think some women around the union or Oxford University Conservative Association were head over heels for him.”

Even today his is thought of as rather dishy in Tory circles with Made in Chelsea star turned Politico, Georgia Toffolo, describing him as a “sex god”.

Made in Chelsea star turned Politico, Georgia Toffolo, described him as a “sex god”

He sued the BBC at the age of 12 after they failed to pay him £18 for an interview on the Today Programme

As a nipper Jacob Rees-Mogg threatened legal action against the BBC after they failed to pay him £18 for an interview

An unsurprisingly precocious child, JRM was interviewed on the today programme about finance when he was just 12-years-old.

The keen capitalist, who already read the Financial Times daily and attended company shareholder meetings, was happy to appear on the programme for a fee in 1981.

Young Jacob asked the beeb to fork out £18 for the interview and when they failed to cough up sent a letter threatening legal action.

He wrote: “Dear Today programme, you are in a debt of £18 which was payable as from 13/9/81.

“I have no idea what your excuse is but I will not accept it. If it is not received by 10/11/81 which is nearly two months, I shall increase it to £36.

“If it is not received within 10 days I shall take legal advice. I hope it does not come to that for I have no desire to prosecute the BBC.”

When asked about the incident by HOAR last year, Jacob, now 50, described it as “an error of his misspent youth.”

He asked former Tory MP Louise Mensch to marry him but she turned him down

Jacob reportedly once asked chick lit author turned Tory MP Louise Mensch to marry him. The pair were close at Oxford

A friend who knows both Jacob and Louise claims that the chick lit author turned politico told them that Rees-Mogg had proposed to her but she said no.

The pair were very close friends at Oxford and allegedly Louise seriously considered the proposal before turning them down.

She would eventually go on to marry Anthony  LoCicero in 2000 but divorce him nine years later before hooking up with her current hubby, US businessman Peter Mensch.

Jacob and Louise remain close to this day and are Godparents to one another’s children.

He took his own bed sheets to Eton

Jacob pictured in his uniform at Eton

A fan of the finer things in life, when Jacob was packed of to Eton as a 13-year-old he discovered he was unhappy with the bedding provided by the prestigious school.

As a result, the future MP’s now famous nanny, made frequent visits to the Berkshire public school to make his bed.

Young Jacob preferred his own linen to the standard issue sheets doled out at the £42,000-per-year school.

He dumped his girlfriend after finding out she was divorced

Jacob reportedly broke of a romance in Hong Kong after discovering the woman was a divorcee

During his Far Eastern adventure in the world of Hong Kong finance, Moggy apparently got cosy with a young lady named Maria Butler.

The pair apparently dined out together a few times and it seemed like one of the more serious relationships Jacob had had with a woman.

But apparently the budding would be romance, which never became physical, was cut short after devoutly Catholic Jacob discovered Maria had been divorced following a brief, ill-fated marriage in her early 20s.

 

He changed his phone number to the date of the death of Charles I to make it easier to remember

Charles I was beheaded in January 1649 after standing trial on treason charges

Charles I was beheaded in January 1649 after standing trial on treason charges

History buff Jacob once changed the last four digits of his phone number to 1649, the year of Charles I’s execution, to make it easier to remember.

He revealed during an interview at the London Palladium with the Spectator that he opted for the number after moving into a new home.

Jacob, who read history at Oxford, said: “It’s important to have telephone numbers that people can remember.

“So if you say to people ‘459-the death of Charles I’ they know exactly what to call.”

He’s had the same car since he was 23 – it’s a Bentley

Jacob Rees-Mogg pictured with the Bentley he has owned since he was 23

As a great British politician, Mr Rees-Mogg obviously opted for a great British Motor.

Jacob’s dad, Times editor William Rees-Mogg spied a rather nice 1968 T-Series Bentley first owned by former England cricket captain Gubby Allen.

Following his death in 1989, Gubby’s papers went on sale at an auction attended by Jacob’s father, a former Editor of The Times and a collector of rare books.

It was there that he saw Gubby’s old car for sale and contacted the 23-year-old Jacob about a potential purchase.

Jacob said: “Neither my father nor I knew anything about cars, but we dutifully looked under the bonnet and there was an engine there but beyond that, our technical skills were not very great.

“I bid for it and got it and then realised that enjoying the car was probably going to cost almost as much as buying it”

Jacob Rees-Mogg pictured with his much loved nanny, Veronica Crook