Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party launched today with its new secret weapon: Annunziata Rees-Mogg, sister of leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg is standing as one of its candidates.
Annunziata has herself stood twice as a Conservative party candidate. Conservatism and the Conservative party is in this family’s blood, so it’s not a decision she undertook lightly.
As she told me at the party’s launch – held, not in Remain stronghold London, of course, but in Coventry in the heart of industrial England – she had been driven to despair by the Conservative government’s failure to deliver on the result of the 2016 Referendum.
“So many voters I know feel their voices have not been listened to, have been completely ignored and their wishes have been betrayed. I felt I had to stand up and do something.”
If you’re a fan of Jacob Rees-Mogg, you’d love his sister at least as much. She shares quite a few of his mannerisms. And his clarity of thought. And his strong-headed determination to do what is right.
My view on the new Brexit party: I worry that there’s a danger it will split the Brexit vote, which will be divided with UKIP voters. On the other hand, with the charismatic Farage at the helm (and the capable organiser of the March to Leave, Richard Tice as party chairman), it clearly stands a very good chance of capitalising on the truly enormous groundswell of public disaffection (especially among Leave voters) with the Conservative party.
Indeed, as political journalist Quentin Letts told me, he heard that at one recent Conservative constituency meeting that 90-per-cent of those present said that they would vote for the Brexit party in any coming European elections. Good news for Mr Farage…