Jacob Rees-Mogg - Prime Minister?

[weresquirrel]

I know he is very posh and comes across as old fashioned and a bit quirky/eccentric, but he came across very well on Question Time, made some good points and seemed to understand a lot of the problems people are going through, was articulate and not shouty.

I know a lot of people will hate him simply because he is "posh", rich and old fashioned but would he make a good Prime Minister? I think he would.

The monarch cannot be a Roman Catholic (the reason being that the monarch is supreme governor of the C of E).

PM, other royal, etc, no laws about that.

It's because media coverage of politicians is shit.

All many people see is how well they scrub up on a televised debate, so a pleasing manner helps.

Bonus points go to those who have posh accents or are outsiders.

id have thought that Farron and May's showing in the election proves it's difficult for any leader with strong religious convictions to be elected now and hardline Catholics are unlikely to go down well with mainstream voters much as he's got some heritage appeal.

He's the Tony Benn of the Tory Party.

And i know lots of people loooovvved Benn but i do not intend it as a compliment.

Funny how every time an upper clas person turns out to be a coldhearted shit, people talk about some mythical 'other' upper class person who is lovely to their staff which makes the inherited privilege absolutely fine, whereas what makes people shits is being middle class. Only in Britain does being a particular class let you off the consequences of your beliefs.

Yes, the Mumsnet mantra that posh people are all really lovely with their battered station wagons and old retainers in cottages all over the estate.........

Posh people's PR is excellent.

The vast majority of posh people I have met seem to be entitled twats.

Perhaps I have just been unlucky.

Why is he doing HIGNFY when his wife has just had a baby?

Oh wait, that'll be why - another excuse to get away from his demanding new born baby I expect.

He's a vile human being dressed up as a harmless Walter-the-softy type person.

another excuse to get away from his demanding new born baby I expect.

Tbh I doubt his sort even think for a moment that an excuse is needed. The nitty gritty of parenting simply isn't their domain.

Omg really? Shall we all tug our forelocks and pay a tithe????

He is more interested in a future financial job apparently. He even answered the Bristol Evening Post's election question 'How do you earn your living' (bearing in mind he was a sitting MP) ? With 'Investment Banker'. Which he is. Lot of school fees to pay I suppose.

If you're into retro right wing politics (which I'm not) he'd be a decent enough choice I suppose.

rhayader Tories don't have the monopoly on 'understanding politics'. I studied it and would never vote Tory. You're right, most people don't understand what a three line whip is, but gay marriage was a free vote anyway, so your analysis is inaccurate and misleading.

Mhairi Black said of him 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

To be fair, he's only as much an amateur as a good many other British politicians, e.g:

Jeremy Corbyn
Mhairi Black
Boris Johnson
Various Blairites

E.g. people who have never run anything and have had no career outside politics. At least JRM has done that, although perhaps investment banking ranks somewhere below fraud in its desirability.

He's opposed to: devolution, voting reform, the EU, benefits for poor people, the NHS, state education, homosexuality.

He's in favour of: privatisation of everything, less oversight of government, deregulation of big business, lower taxes for the rich, more power for state security apparatus, cutting public services, getting rid of 'foreigners'.

He's doesn't seem a bad person

You're right... he doesn't seem a bad person but rather like a very bad person

"Posh people's PR is excellent." Perhaps it is, but whoever it was who persuaded a large slice of the electorate that corbyn was anything other than a halfwit trot with suspicious leanings towards anti-semitism and Islamic fundamentalists leaves the posh people's agency cold.
The problem is that a large chunk of the country is at the point where it will vote for any old rubbish if it makes the right noises. They really don't need Reed Mogg shoved in front of them. God knows what they'll do.

"Most people here dont seem to understand that most of these votes are whipped anyway. It's the party line which the vast majority of MPs vote with."

I (and I'm sure most others) understand that fine. It's a crackers argument anyway when applied to JRM. Arguably the Tory whip holds him to a much more liberal and egalitarian stance than his actual views :-) His votes against gay rights, for example, were in defiance of the party.

@Seawitchly
"He's doesn't seem a bad person. You're right... he doesn't seem a bad person but rather like a very bad person"

Everyone is the hero of their own story. Its important to understand why people hold these views in order to oppose them.

JRM believes in personal responsibility, personal liberty (of a sort), common decency and tradition- not bad things per se.

That fact he's had everything handed on a plate make it easy to imagine that he got where he is from his own efforts and others must be less worthy.

He hears people wanting a fairer slice of the pie and thinks they mean to take it from him.

Because macroeconomic structural biases all benefit him he imagines that laissez faire capitalism works great.
He only know a certain type of person, so doesn't realise how exclusive and harmful his concept of 'tradition' can be.

It should be obvious from the first post that I'm not defending him; but the majority of the country voted with him, not you or me. I want them to change their mind.

Ha, I'm assuming your original post was a joke OP. Very amusing

That fact he's had everything handed on a plate make it easy to imagine that he got where he is from his own efforts and others must be less worthy.

Yes. He has this in common with American politicians. They're born to wealth and opportunity but seem to think that anyone in poverty who doesn't simply pull themselves up by the bootstraps to a more affluent life is just lacking in zip and drive. Poverty is a moral failing.

I genuinely think that rather than voting for a candidate's name you should vote for their anonymised voting record. I think we'd see a far more representative result. It terrifies me that so many people seem to vote based on someone's performance on HIGNFY / Twitter / Newsnight etc.

You seem like a nice enough person but that's is so infuriating. You want someone to lead the country and you haven't bothered to check what they actually DO as part of parliamentary democracy. FFS no wonder the country is in such a mess.

This^

He has never had to earn any of his achievements. He doesn't know what "striving" looks like. In spite of this, he spent the immediate post-referendum period attacking the governer of the Bank of England's plans stabilising the UK post-Brexit (markets dislike change, as a rule) and basically made out that the "problem" with Mark Carney is that he's Canadian and therefore not enough of a patriot for Rees-Mogg's taste.

And This^ In addition to what I've previously said.

There's nothing wrong with being born into a rich, privileged family - but there is something wrong with not recognising it - recognising your privilege. I'm convinced JRM thinks his achievements are all down to him - not down to the money, upbringing, private education, Eton etc. His attitude to the disadvantaged, to foreigners, to poor people, speak volumes.

Eton boys are all the same, pretty much. Well spoken, humorous, eloquent, good speakers and debaters, but while some of them may recognise the privilege, most don't.

Hasn't Corbyn had everything handed to him on a plate? The difference is that JRM has actually worked and created wealth. Jeremy has only ever free loaded.