JACOB REES-MOGG is more likely to become Pope than Prime Minister, he said tonight.
The eccentric Tory MP has been increasingly tipped as a possible future leader of his party – despite having no experience as a minister.
This evening he told a crowd of activists that his leadership bid “is simply not something that is going to happen” – while at the same time slamming Theresa May’s failed election manifesto.
Mr Rees-Mogg addressed a crowd of 100 activists in Westminster tonight – many of them youngsters who have signed up to the “Moggmentum” movement which has grown over the summer.
Asked about his leadership chances, he said: “Let me be absolutely clear – I’m not a candidate, there is not a vacancy, I fully support Theresa May and want her to continue.
“And I’m a backbench MP. In the whole history of the Prime Ministership, the party in office has never felt so desperate that it has dragged somebody from the obscurity of the backbenches to thrust them into the highest office.
“So the answer to your question is that it is simply not something that is going to happen.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg/Instagram
He continued: “I am, however, eligible for the papacy – because as it turns out, any Catholic man is eligible to become Pope.
“Of course, the Holy Ghost chooses the Holy Father. So if the Holy Ghost calls, then of course I will accept.”
Despite his support for Mrs May, Mr Rees-Mogg also took jabs at the General Election manifesto she produced ahead of June’s disastrous vote.
He said: “I think our manifesto was not proud enough of being Conservative, I think it was too focus grouped.
“I think we were too diffident about announcing our successes, particularly on welfare.”
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The MP praised ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith for pioneering the Tory welfare reforms – comparing him favourably to George Osborne, who became a newspaper editor after quitting the Government.
Mr Rees-Mogg joked that IDS “was booted out and he didn’t go off and edit a local freesheet”.
The 48-year-old MP for North East Somerset has become increasingly popular since he set up Instagram and Twitter accounts earlier this year.
His announcement that he and his wife had had a sixth child, named Sixtus, was greeted with admiration and hilarity.
A recent survey found that he was Tory members’ favourite to be the next leader, despite the fact that he has never held a frontbench post during his seven years in Parliament.
