Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Jacob Rees-Mogg
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English politician Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Last updated on April 17, 2025.
'Ever closer union' is one of the totemically controversial phrases in the European Union's Treaties. It seems to give weight to the view that the scheme is designed to end in a single state and that those who agreed the texts have long know this, even if they have been unwilling to admit it to the British people.
There is sometimes an almost vindictive streak in politics whereby governments follow policies which they know will harm the electorate, but nonetheless, they keep them, sometimes for years. The Corn Laws are a classic example.
Free Trade puts consumers at the centre of economic activity. It lowers the cost of imports, which gives people the opportunity to buy more with the same amount of money: domestic producers have to compete with the lowest global costs or invest in new business.
Lobbying has become a term of reproach, as if it were improper to push for a particular belief. This has happened because of paid lobbyists whose opinions are for hire and the fear that decision-makers, whether politicians or officials, are susceptible to their charms and wiles. This has tarred entirely proper lobbying with the same brush.
One of the great constraints on economic growth and employment is that the tax and benefits system has grown up over generations and does not give the right incentives. Increasing the minimum wage does not solve this problem.
The promise of welfare and welfare regulation mean that there is no incentive to accept jobs that do not meet basic standards.
The arguments over the limits that may be put on individuals suspected of sympathising with the enemy have occurred over the centuries. Habeas corpus was suspended during the Napoleonic wars, and Defence Regulation 18b was applied during the Second World War.
I believe that politicians should implement the promises that they've given in manifestos.
Perhaps one day the world will end, giving the last group to predict it the satisfaction of being right - but as many have been wrong so far, it does not seem wise to make public policy on the back of these fears.
I have never been to IKEA, no.
I was left £50 when I was ten by a fairly distant cousin, which my father invested in GEC shares on my behalf. I became interested in the market and was given some more shares by my father, which is when I began looking to see how the shares were performing and learning how to read company reports, balance sheets, and so on in order to gauge that.
Electorally, the number of women who want to wear a burka is insignificant, yet it is important to defend such a minority against the tyranny of the majority.
Tony Blair adopted the accent of the audience he was speaking to, which worked very well initially, but then voters began to perceive him as phoney. The 'man of the people' act is the height of condescension.
We are the Conservative and Unionist party. No Conservative would do anything to harm the union, and that crucially includes Northern Ireland.
The requirement upon the sovereign to 'advise, encourage, and warn' means that the Queen must be well informed. The weekly audience with the Prime Minister is not to discuss the weather but to talk about the most pressing problems facing the nation. An ill-informed monarch cannot do that and would fail in a key constitutional task.
The appetite of the British people for a long-term involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict could not be weaker. There is no wish to have any further long-term obligations of a military kind that do not affect the most direct national interest.
It is not for me to enforce my morals on others.
We need to be free to do deals with the rest of the world.
Constitutionally, a revising chamber is useful and important. The first occasion I know of in history when the Lords fulfilled this role was in 1539 when Henry VIII's act of proclamations was neutered by their lordships so effectively that the Act was repealed in 1547.
Eschatological fears are an ancient human concern. The Romans expected the world to end in 634 B.C. owing to a prophecy involving twelve eagles, while the early Christians anticipated the Final Judgment in their own lifetimes. Pope Sylvester II thought A.D. 1000 would be the last year, a view updated for the modern age by the Millennium bug.
The E.U. is a backward-looking project based on an economic model of the 20th century.
Employers' national income is a particular disincentive to employ because it is an expense without benefit.
A constitutional monarchy requires the monarch to be above politics but to be fully informed about politics.
Unsalted butter is a sin against the Holy Ghost.
You've got to judge people, ultimately, by their actions rather than their words.
In the U.S., free speech and the press are protected by the First Amendment. It has a clarity unmatched by modern legislators and declares that 'Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.'
My personal opinion is that life begins at the point of conception, and abortion is morally indefensible.
Marriage is a sacrament, and the decision of what is a sacrament lies with the Church, not with Parliament.
I'm of the opinion that one of the perks of being in Parliament is not having to do the school run.
The state ought not to intervene to prevent individuals from doing things that not only are no risk to others but are of no risk to themselves either.
I very much like potatoes.
I think that conservative principles have a broad appeal, and you should state them boldly, and the point of a Conservative election is to do conservative things, not to do Labour things but slightly less damaging.
Although nannies who cover more than one generation are rare, those like Veronica Crook - who looked after me and now looks after my four children - are pearls of great price. They provide a continuity and stability for a family that is of inestimable value for the child and, indeed, the man.
You alleviate poverty by trickle-down economics.
A power of recall that depended solely on the electorate and was not subject to unnecessary hurdles of Parliamentary procedures would show trust in the good sense and fairness of the British people. In return, they might trust Parliamentarians a little more.
The Catholic Church's teachings are authoritative. There is a moral absolute on abortion - that it is wrong.
Extradition treaties date back at least to 1259 B.C., when the Hittite King Hattusili the Third and Ramesses the Second signed a treaty of 'peace and brotherhood for all time.' They have become more commonplace as international travel has become easier and sensibly streamlined.
I trust my electors. I see them in weekly meetings. I'm their advocate, I'm there to take up their case. I'm not there to decide whether they've got a good case or a bad case. And I think that if you trust people, they're more likely to trust you back.
Zero-hours contracts are a low proportion of the workforce; they provide a route into employment and flexibility for staff. They benefit business, consumers, and taxpayers by keeping costs down, and they boost productivity, allowing the efficient use of labour.
I'm not interested in the past, I'm interested in the future. Europe is past.
It is hard to see taxing plastic bags as one of the great issues of our time that merits the foremost place in our finest statesmen's minds. It is an absurd little issue, a picayune proportion of household waste, and a pointless inconvenience in people's lives.
As a general rule, governments are wise to avoid taxation that is voluntary, as they need a steady stream of income.
I've never put all my eggs in one basket, and I've always been cautious.
Before the government decides to raise the minimum wage, it must consider the effects of the tax and benefits merry-go-round that affects the low-paid.
I would almost certainly vote for Trump if I was American.
I think, with a negotiation, you have to go in knowing what you want, knowing what your bottom line is, and knowing what you might accept if you're absolutely pushed.
The biographies of the great rarely report much about the nanny, but for many, she will have played a crucial role in their formative years.
I'm not a great beer drinker, but I do like Butcombe, probably because it's made of good Somerset water.
We must be out of the protectionist common external tariff, which mainly protects inefficient E.U. industries at the cost to British consumers.
The experience in Iraq has taken away the essential trust which political leaders need before embarking on military action. It was meant to be about weapons of mass destruction rather than regime change. Unfortunately, the nation was misled, and secret service information was misused.
In the 2010s, it is not the price of bread that is falsely and unnecessarily inflated by obstinate politicians but that of energy. There are cheap sources of energy either available or possible, but there is a reluctance to use them.
I like to have one car that I can be certain will go. The thing about classic cars is you can't always assume they will go.
Sometimes 'sin' taxes are useful not because of their perceived health benefits but because they are effectively a form of voluntary taxation which tends to arouse less irritation than other taxes.
A poor worker is taxed heavily to receive his own money back with a modest supplement. Surely it would be more efficient just to pay the supplement and take him out of direct tax altogether.
When I'm overseas, I suspect I look like Mr. Bean.
Patience is a virtue; virtue is a grace.
When Margaret Thatcher was leader, she and Michael Heseltine were hardly soulmates, but she would not have allowed personal rivalry to take the heat off the Labour Party, whose own deep internal divisions are buried in other news now, nor would she have countenanced any attempt to have a show trial.
Not everyone will always agree with me.
Zero-hours contracts offer an entry point for people who are either new to the workforce or have commitments that make it hard to work full-time.
It is easy to defend the right of people to do things that fit in with the cultural norms of the majority. This includes practices that give personal pleasure but may be harmful, such as smoking or drinking. It is harder to argue for minority activities, especially those which stand out and may be obviously unsuitable in certain contexts.
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