Posts Tagged ‘Jacob Rees-Mogg’

Class War Visit The Rees-Moggs – 2018

Sunday, September 11th, 2022

On Tuesday 11th September 2018 I accompanied Class War as they enacted a short theatrical protest outside the Westminster home of Jacob Rees-Mogg. I think it rather amused Rees-Mogg, who deliberately brought out his family and nurse to take part in it, later milking the event for every last ounce of publicity he could. I was impressed by his performance.

Class War had come to call for the release of Rees-Mogg’s nanny, Veronica Cook, who they say ceased to exist as an independent human 50 years ago and has been subsumed into the Mogg family as if she was being confined in the tower of a gothic mansion.

The playlet involved only six protesters, with Ian Bone as himself wearing a cloth cap, former Class War Westminster candidate Adam Clifford as an impressive Jacob Rees-Mogg, Jane Nicholl as a more fetching Nanny Crook and a giant penis, though this had problems in getting inflated and missed much of the action.

I’d met Class War in a nearby pub, where the performers put on their costumes and then walked along the street to the Mogg house. The performance had been advertised in advance, and family and security were waiting when they arrived and police had a short converstation with Class War who assured them that this would be an entirely peaceful event and there was no intention to cause any damage.

Jacob Rees-Mogg then strode out to meet the protesters, who were not really ready, just finishing unrolling their banner. A loud discussion started, with him being questioned about his nanny and how much she was paid but with him simply welcoming the protesters and refusing to answer. And in the background behind me the woman wearing the inflatable giant penis costume was struggling to get it erected.

After a minute or two, Rees-Mogg was joined by his wife and eldest son, and shortly after the whole family was there with Nanny Crook carrying the baby which she handed to his father. The two elder boys in particular were clearly very interested in what was going on, and at no point in the event did they seem particularly upset in any way.

Ian Bone continued to loudly question Mr Rees-Mogg about the pay and conditions of Nanny Crook, repeating his questions as he failed to answer. After some time he invited Nanny Crook to speak and she told the protesters that she was very happy with the arrangements, though she did not answer about what these were.

They made Nanny an offer of escape, telling her she is paid at below the minimum wage, calling Rees-Mogg a “Slave Owner – The Leopold of the Mendips” and also suggested that she joined a trade union, offering her membership of the UVW. She only smiled, and her employer made clear that she had no interest in the offer of trade union membership.

When nanny pulled down the blind the oldest son went upstairs to watch

At one point Bone turned towards the elder of the boys watching the performance, telling him loudly that a lot of people didn’t like his daddy and giving some reasons for this at some length. One of the protesters captured this on a video which was posted on social media and led to a national outcry from press and TV channels.

While another squeezed in front of the blind

One other journalist had arrived to photograph the event alongside me, and he rushed off to file his pictures which were widely used. I accompanied Class War back to the pub and only filed work later. One picture editor of a major national newspaper later told me he had failed to find my pictures as he searched for “Mogg” but I had used the keyword “Rees-Mogg” among those on my pictures.

Finally the giant penis joins the other protesters

I’d also filed a report of the event, but that was never even quoted, and I was never contacted by the media for my comments, nor I think was the other journalist. Our accounts would have totally contradicted the headlines used about Class War “ambushing” the family, which was simply a media smear.

As I comment on My London Diary:

“Jacob Rees-Mogg and his family were willing participants in what happened in front of their home. Their children did not seem upset, more fascinated with what was happening – and after they had been taken inside and the protest continued had to be dragged away from the windows. One made his way upstairs to continue to watch without being prevented from doing so. Almost all of the media commentary was a deliberate total misrepresentation of what had taken place.”

Class War watch their video in the pub before they upload it

Both Rees-Mogg and Class War revelled in the publicity they got from the event, with Ian Bone being labelled by one opinated right-wing radio show host as “foul-mouthed” for telling the interviewer he was talking “bollocks” when he raved and blustered at the remarkably level-headed, clear and accurate acount Bone gave of the event. I felt he should have added the word ‘absoute’ in front of it but otherwise it was hard to fault.

More at Class War visit the Rees-Moggs.


Mother Hysteria and Mogg

Sunday, June 9th, 2019

Starring Adam Clifford as Jacoob Rees Mogg and Jane Nicholl as Mother Hysteria the cast got together in a pub a short walk from the London Palladium where a full house of mugs were paying £38 a head to come and listen to Mogg.

Together with a small team of supporters the pair walked down to the Palladium, where early comers were queing to get into to the show and told them what they had come to see – and evening with a religious extremist.

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It was almost certainly more entertaining than anything that was coming later in the evening when they got inside the theatre, but there were a few in the queue who got a little upset at Class War. The police too showed they lacked a sense of humour and were soon insisting that Class War move further away to the other side of the road.

The protest continued there, with some longer speeches from a few of those present, including a well-known Whitechapel anarchist, although I wasn’t sure how many of those largely out-of-town punters across the road would appreciate the rhyming slang of his placard, ‘Jacob Rees-Joey Ronce.’

Nor for that matter, its accuracy. ‘Mogg-Tax Dodging Snob’ on another placard was however doubly to the point. Behind his backing for Brexit is undoubtedly both the fact that he stands to make millions if not billions from it, and as another placard pointed out, he is truly ‘Lord Snooty’ personified.

The evening then descended further into farce as the police threatened Mother Hysteria with arrest for possession of offensive weapons in the form of some novelty stink bombs. They took her to one side and held her against the wall and searched her, after which the sergeant concerned retreated into a nearby shop and spent at least 20 minutes trying to think of something to put on the notice for her that didn’t sound entirely ridiculous.

I took a lot of pictures, but not all of them were usable. It was yet another occasion when the many buttons and the two control dials on my Nikon cameras attracted my wandering digits, and I found myself suddenly having taken a series of exposures at far too high a shutter speed for the lighting or too slow for the subject movement. I had problems too with flash, and one of my cameras had a problem with the hot shoe, which I think was not making proper contact with the flash resulting in it firing at full output and totally overexposing some frames.

But as you can see at Class War protest Rees-Mogg freak show, plenty came out OK.


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