To What Extent is Jacob-Rees Mogg Acting a Persona?

[Free Bird]

I just can’t bring myself to believe that a man can be this posh 24/7 in this day and age

[CumbrianLefty]

It may have started out a device to some degree, but as so often happens he has become the "act".

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Let's dispel with the notion Jacon Rees-Mogg is a human being. No way something like him could have come out from a tender body of a woman. He's been manufactured.

[The Free North]

There are videos of him from the 80s speaking about some of his investments and his plans for the future. I don't remember what he said specifically, but he was wearing a monocle at like age 13 or something and his accent was every bit as posh.

Given his parents, his upbringing (nanny and all), and his associated views, I don't think its an act at all. If anything, I think he comes off as relatively genuine which makes him oddly relatable in a way even though every time he opens his mouth, he exudes pure aristocrat. In the same way I think Sanders is to be commended for not trying to hide his views or persona, I think Rees-Mogg too should be commended.

Even if you disagree with him, he does seem to be fairly well read and seems to be genuinely concerned with parliamentary proceedings and constitutional precedent which is more than you can say about many in the chamber these days. He's wrong on a lot of things and seems to have gotten a bit more full of himself after getting into Boris's government, but I think the house is better with him than without him.

[Bakersfield Uber Alles]

He’s an antique who belongs in the House of Lords.

There are videos of him from the 80s speaking about some of his investments and his plans for the future. I don't remember what he said specifically, but he was wearing a monocle at like age 13 or something and his accent was every bit as posh.

Given his parents, his upbringing (nanny and all), and his associated views, I don't think its an act at all. If anything, I think he comes off as relatively genuine which makes him oddly relatable in a way even though every time he opens his mouth, he exudes pure aristocrat.

Yeah, I don’t think it’s an act at all.

[LabourJersey]

It's not an act at all. He's clearly never tried to come off as even a little relatable to the average British voter, which I guess makes his uber-posh identity at least a little bit of a choice, but I don't think he can imagine being anything other than the son of a Lord and the father of a child named Sextus or whatever.

I'm also shocked the man is a Catholic, though. I know some very old lineages in England managed to keep Catholicism but still

[Cassius]

It's not an act at all. He's clearly never tried to come off as even a little relatable to the average British voter, which I guess makes his uber-posh identity at least a little bit of a choice, but I don't think he can imagine being anything other than the son of a Lord and the father of a child named Sextus or whatever.

I'm also shocked the man is a Catholic, though. I know some very old lineages in England managed to keep Catholicism but still

The thing about Rees-Mogg is that he’s in no way an aristocrat - his father wasn’t even raised to the peerage until Mogg the Younger was at university, and his grandmother was an Irish-American Catholic (which I assume explains his Catholicism). The name Rees-Mogg, in spite of being double barrelled, isn’t indicative of any aristocratic lineage. He’s essentially self-consciously old-fashioned, although he seems to have been this way for so long it would be wrong to call it a persona at this point.

I’ve never really seen anything wrong with it myself, although it seems to trigger some people on the left (and some people from genuinely blue blooded backgrounds) considerably. He’s not exactly the first British politician to have adopted a persona largely at odds with his ancestry and social background (see Jenkins, Woy and Benn, Anthony Wedgwood).

[Lord Halifax]

It's not an act at all. He's clearly never tried to come off as even a little relatable to the average British voter, which I guess makes his uber-posh identity at least a little bit of a choice, but I don't think he can imagine being anything other than the son of a Lord and the father of a child named Sextus or whatever.

I'm also shocked the man is a Catholic, though. I know some very old lineages in England managed to keep Catholicism but still

The thing about Rees-Mogg is that he’s in no way an aristocrat - his father wasn’t even raised to the peerage until Mogg the Younger was at university, and his grandmother was an Irish-American Catholic (which I assume explains his Catholicism). The name Rees-Mogg, in spite of being double barrelled, isn’t indicative of any aristocratic lineage. He’s essentially self-consciously old-fashioned, although he seems to have been this way for so long it would be wrong to call it a persona at this point.

I’ve never really seen anything wrong with it myself, although it seems to trigger some people on the left (and some people from genuinely blue blooded backgrounds) considerably. He’s not exactly the first British politician to have adopted a persona largely at odds with his ancestry and social background (see Jenkins, Woy and Benn, Anthony Wedgwood).

His father's family did belong to the gentry and got the double barreled surname when they took over a manor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholwell,_Cameley

[Kingpoleon]

A gentrified voice is certainly helpful to his cause, and I have to imagine that if he were to ever become the Conservative Leader, likely in opposition, he would very soon become PM.

[Ban my account ffs!]

They’ve been manufacturing them for a while...and like Hermione they get extra time...but also extra people to help them out.

And that makes Jack an enraged and ready to just start telling anyone in earshot boy.

[LabourJersey]

A gentrified voice is certainly helpful to his cause, and I have to imagine that if he were to ever become the Conservative Leader, likely in opposition, he would very soon become PM.

I don't see him ever becoming the leader of the Tories. If Boris is a current events joke, Rees-Mogg is a joke from a Francis Bacon play that people don't even try to understand

[Kingpoleon]

I don't see him ever becoming the leader of the Tories. If Boris is a current events joke, Rees-Mogg is a joke from a Francis Bacon play that people don't even try to understand

Sure, but not even a decade ago Prime Minister Johnson was a punchline. I don’t know if Rees-Mogg as PM is as laughable as you make it out to be.

[LabourJersey]

I don't see him ever becoming the leader of the Tories. If Boris is a current events joke, Rees-Mogg is a joke from a Francis Bacon play that people don't even try to understand

Sure, but not even a decade ago Prime Minister Johnson was a punchline. I don’t know if Rees-Mogg as PM is as laughable as you make it out to be.

The fact that Johnson won the Mayor's race showed he had (has?) at least some appeal to voters that the Tories need to win over. Rees-Mogg doesn't have that

[Filuwaúrdjan]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50302573

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I don't see him ever becoming the leader of the Tories. If Boris is a current events joke, Rees-Mogg is a joke from a Francis Bacon play that people don't even try to understand

Sure, but not even a decade ago Prime Minister Johnson was a punchline. I don’t know if Rees-Mogg as PM is as laughable as you make it out to be.

Someone like him even coming withing a ten foot pole of 10 Downing Street in supposedly "modern" age would mean the last 300 years of the United Kingdom was just a grim joke with no punchline.

[Oryxslayer]

I tend to think JRM deep down knows that it might once ehave been an act, but now it is his whole personality. If anyone has seen the recent movie 'Jojo Rabbit," JRM probably initially was like the main character. In his youth he wanted to be part of a 'cool kids club,' felt his personal identity was being challenged, and so went the whole hog to act out his role. Very common phenomenon for someone to become even more committed and defensive of their identity if challenged on said identity. If you are going to be called a old country gentleman, might live the part you know - wear your weaknesses as a badge of honor and all that. Nowadays, that's just his life, the decisions you make in your youth persist long into adulthood.

Now on him becoming PM: I'm sure JRM would like the job but probably can never get it. I feel he is like Ted Cruz in many ways. He's detestable, despicable, old-fashioned, but if you have to elect someone with his sort of views to government, then it has to be him. Their both just too well versed in legalese and like I said before, the both know how to turn their weaknesses into armor  and pride. However, just like Cruz, JRM probably could never go far in a race for the top job, hes got too many enemies and his views are not held by a majority of the electorate. But that doesn't stop personal ambition. So like Cruz, JRM is likely content to be figurehead for a large backbench contingent that gives him unofficial power as a puppetmaster, even though he will never get de facto control of government.

[cp]

I tend to think JRM deep down knows that it might once ehave been an act, but now it is his whole personality. If anyone has seen the recent movie 'Jojo Rabbit," JRM probably initially was like the main character. In his youth he wanted to be part of a 'cool kids club,' felt his personal identity was being challenged, and so went the whole hog to act out his role. Very common phenomenon for someone to become even more committed and defensive of their identity if challenged on said identity. If you are going to be called a old country gentleman, might live the part you know - wear your weaknesses as a badge of honor and all that. Nowadays, that's just his life, the decisions you make in your youth persist long into adulthood.

Now on him becoming PM: I'm sure JRM would like the job but probably can never get it. I feel he is like Ted Cruz in many ways. He's detestable, despicable, old-fashioned, but if you have to elect someone with his sort of views to government, then it has to be him. Their both just too well versed in legalese and like I said before, the both know how to turn their weaknesses into armor  and pride. However, just like Cruz, JRM probably could never go far in a race for the top job, hes got too many enemies and his views are not held by a majority of the electorate. But that doesn't stop personal ambition. So like Cruz, JRM is likely content to be figurehead for a large backbench contingent that gives him unofficial power as a puppetmaster, even though he will never get de facto control of government.

Before yesterday I would have pushed back against that phrasing as hyperbolic, but implying (poor) people who died in a fire lacked 'common sense' is pretty beyond the pale.