View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Culture
  2. Radio & Podcasts
22 February 2018

Jacob Rees-Mogg is no less conceptual art than Gilbert & George walking around Whitechapel

Rees-Mogg, in his pinstriped shirt, is a profoundly unserious man pretending to be serious.

By Antonia Quirke

“I’m not terribly agricultural. I do have a few sheep in Somerset. Three sheep to keep the grass down…” Jacob Rees-Mogg muses on the nature of farming, presenting a one-off Sunday LBC call-in (10am, 18 February). He is responding to a text declaring the nation a “flock of sheep wandering in the wilderness needing a shepherd”. I get that. It’s about Rees-Mogg, right?

Some of the two hours was given over to people phoning up and telling him he ought to stand against Theresa May, and Rees-Mogg fielding it all in a tone of gracious-if-weary dismissal that supposedly belongs to the upper classes. The British have a fatal tendency to think that an air of bemused disdain is a repository of “old wisdom”. And they mistake a perceived sardonic willingness to scrap verbally as “common sense”. Although there wasn’t much memorable scrapping here. Rees-Mogg was studiedly unflappable when he challenged ousted Ukip leader Henry Bolton about his love life (“It’s a bit too early to say what’s going to happen, Jacob”) but even that sounded rather monotone.

Far more fascinating was the view on the webcam set up in Rees-Mogg’s house, a frothing bouquet of red roses in the background (had he been spoiling wife Helena?) and what looked like an unbeautiful metal ashtray of the type they used to set on the tables of Spudulike. And Rees-Mogg in a pinstriped shirt, pretending to be the sort of person with the intelligence and charisma to appear boring and uncharismatic. When really (this is the key to JRM’s extreme peculiarity) he is impersonating all of that – he’s no less a conceptual art work than Gilbert & George walking around Whitechapel. It’s the self-awareness that makes him disorientating. “I vote Lib Dem,” admitted a caller, “sorry, Jacob, no disrespect to you.” An awkward pause. “O…K,” replied Rees-Mogg, squashing any drama.

Pedantically, he announced the time as “ten-fourteen – and 45 seconds”. Which sounded strange, more than anything else:  a profoundly unserious man pretending to be serious. Rees-Mogg isn’t Donald Trump. He’s not a paradigm shift. He’s merely Michael Howard (but at a time when we least need it.)

Jacob Rees-Mogg
LBC

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

This article appears in the 21 Feb 2018 issue of the New Statesman, Sunni vs Shia

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU