Jacob Rees-Mogg: ‘Reality TV show Meet the Rees-Moggs is a calculated risk’

“I don’t want to be a celebrity,” former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg insists when I ask him why he, his wife and six children have decided to take part in a Kardashian-esque reality series called Meet the Rees-Moggs.

“You have to be open if you’re a public figure and if you’re telling people to vote for you, you have to tell them who you are and what you’re about,” he says. “And, of course, I thought it would be fun.”

In his 14 years as an MP, the former minister came to be viewed as one of the most controversial politicians of recent times thanks to some of his hardline views. These include total opposition to abortion (even in cases of incest and rape) and a belief that there should be no climate change legislation.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, Sir Jacob said it would have been “common sense” for residents to flee the building, ignoring fire brigade advice. A survivors group described the comments as “extremely painful and insulting”. Sir Jacob later said he “profoundly apologised”.

In 2017, former Conservative MP Matthew Parris said Sir Jacob had “perfumed manners, but his opinions are poison”.

“If you ever say what you think in politics you’re immediately thought of as controversial,” Sir Jacob tells me as we sit in one of the many dining rooms in his London townhouse.

I ask if he enjoys riling people up and he admits to “loving it”, adding: “Some people are so easy to wind up that I’m afraid it does entertain me.”

Now Sir Jacob, who is also a GB News presenter, hopes the reality show gives him another platform to, in his words, “get the Conservative message out there”.