Top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg reveals strange way he chatted up his aristocratic wife
Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg has revealed he chatted up his aristocratic wife by impressing her with his knowledge of her famous ancestor.
The prominent right-winger said he took an unusual approach to courtship by banging on about 17th Century politician Thomas Wentworth, a distant relative of his now wife.
In the interview with GB News, Mr Rees-Mogg insisted that his bizarre old-fashioned public image was no different to who he is in private.
The upper-crust Tory said: “Would anybody have adopted my image out of a creation, a confection? I think that’s very unlikely, so I’d better be what I really am.
“I’m not much different in private from the public view.”
The North Somerset MP was introduced to his wife Helena – with whom he has six kids – by his sister Annunziata, a former Brexit Party MEP.
He said: “We started talking and I’m afraid I mainly talked about [her] ancestor Thomas Wentworth and [she] thought, ‘who’s this rather odd fellow who knows more about my family history than I do?’’
He said he was a “complete pushover” with his six kids, who include the eccentrically named Sixtus, Wulfric, Anselm and Alphege.
Mr Rees-Mogg still employs the same nanny who raised him – who he once took on the campaign trail with him.
“My children have me wrapped around their little finger,” he said. “I give into them the whole time. I give in straight away before being asked really. I’m a complete pushover.”
The 53-year-old, who is known for his fogeyish ways, admitted that he has a wardrobe stuffed full of double-breasted suits and wouldn’t know how to wear jeans.
“I’ve got a dark blue one and dark grey one [suit]. And one time it’s one, and one time it’s the other,” he said.
“What would I do with a pair of jeans?”
A tour of his plush London home also revealed walls covered with oil paintings, an unauthorised biography of David Cameron on his shelves and a monogrammed handkerchief of King Charles I, apparently stained with blood from the execution.