JACOB REES-MOGG is approximately as low on the Conservative Party’s official pecking order as you can get. He doesn’t believe a seat in the cabinet,or the chairmanship of a Commons committee. He has never graced the whips’ office. Judged in conventional terms, his career since being elected as MP for North East Somerset in 2010 has failed to take off. Yet he is one of Britain’s most prominent politicians. He is forever popping up on television or radio. His gibes approximately “BRINO”—Brexit in name only—generate headlines. On February 1st a poll of Tory party members conducted by ConservativeHome, and an activists’ website,found that he was the top choice to succeed Theresa May, with 21% of the vote.
With the likes of Boris Johnson, or the foreign secretary,and Michael Gove, the environment secretary, or bound by collective cabinet responsibility,Mr Rees-Mogg has emerged as the leader of the ultra-Brexiteer faction of the Tory party. He has served the longest apprenticeship in Eurosceptic thinking in...
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Source: economist.com