Meet the Rees-Moggs: a 'surprisingly lowbrow' venture from the divisive MP

Jacob Rees-Mogg and his wife, Lady Rees-Mogg

The Rees-Moggs are embarking upon a new life

(Image credit: Murray Sanders)

published 5 December 2024

In early 2024, Jacob Rees-Mogg agreed to be "shadowed by a documentary crew who wanted to chart the realities of life with 'one of the most divisive politicians in Britain'" in the run-up to an election that was expected around Christmas, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. But then – "boom!" – Rishi Sunak called the poll in July, and Rees-Mogg lost his seat. "Meet the Rees-Moggs", therefore, "starts as an intimate portrait of a family caught up in the tough reality that their much-admired patriarch is about to lose his job".

The six-part Discovery+ series features plenty of characters, said Joel Golby in The Guardian. Rees-Mogg's heiress wife, Helena, is in it, his children are in it, his two homes are in it, "his nanny is in it, a man called Sean who buffs his vintage Bentley is in it, his mother – whom he calls 'Lady Rees-Mogg'! – is in it". We also get some pretty decent glimpses of his life: we hear his sons arguing about whether or not their house is actually a mansion, and see the family (even the six-year-old) sitting down to supper dressed in black tie (which is apparently their practice every Saturday). Judged purely as reality TV, it is good, but many will be disappointed that Rees-Mogg is given the softest of possible edits, depicted here as a "harmless gosh-and-golly goof", not as the arrogant, Trump-admiring Brexiteer of repute.

What the former MP – memorably described as a "haunted Victorian pencil" – hopes to gain from this "surprisingly lowbrow" venture is unclear, said Carol Midgley in The Times: perhaps he just wanted to rub viewers' noses "in his extreme poshness". Or perhaps he is hoping to establish himself as a lovable national character, with a view to – "shock, horror" – forging a TV career beyond GB News.