Long before he reclined for the cameras in Parliament, the Tory MP had a career as an actor – in experimental films made by his socialist aunt. He recalls his days of blazers and butterfly-chasing
‘She was the most lovely aunt,” says Jacob Rees-Mogg. “Wonderfully kind, and took a lot of trouble with her nieces and nephews.” The leader of the Commons is taking a pause from pushing
Brexit to speak about his father’s sister, the avant-garde film-maker Anne Rees-Mogg. Yes, you read that right – the Rees-Mogg clan has a little-known arty streak. Long before Jacob was lounging in front of cameras in parliament, he was making rather different appearances in his Aunt Anne’s experimental films.
The works were shown in a former
British Rail canteen in north
London that had been taken over by a film-makers’ cooperative in the 1970s. There, in a screening area set up at one end of the large, leaky-roofed space, Anne’s filmic collages captured Jacob and his siblings mugging sweetly for the camera. He was, apparently, her favourite.