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Jacob Rees-Mogg spent his first day as Leader of the Commons giving a history lesson to the SNP

Jacob Rees-Mogg spent his first day as Leader of the Commons giving a history lesson to the SNP

Jacob Rees-Mogg is the new leader of the Commons after being handed the role by Boris Johnson and it spent his first day on the job giving history lessons.

The Tory MP, who is apparently only 50-years-old but has all the mannerisms and appearance of someone that served in the Boer War and had an interesting first day at the dispatch box.

Before he even got a chance to talk, someone told him to resign which elicited a chuckle from Rees-Mogg who responded by saying "it's a bit early."

Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons then asked him if his infamous nanny would be helping him in his new job. He said in response:

Thank you Mr Speaker and thank you to the Shadow Leader for her incisive list of questions, and indeed the suggestion that I should replace nanny with the staff in the Leader’s Office.

I think they might be bemused if six children trotted in with me and expected to be looked after by House of Commons staff, so I won’t go down that route.

However, the most 'Rees-Mogg' moment of the entire session saw him give a brief history lesson to the SNP's Pete Wishart.

The MP for Perth and North Pershire said to Rees-Mogg:

Maybe it would be worth pointing out that he is the leader of the House of Commons, not the House of Plantagent, or the House of Tudor.

And he will, of course, have a number of key responsibilities, amongst them is 'restoration and renewal,' perhaps not a concept that he is particularly renowned unless of course it's one of his own houses.

He fired back by not really joking about what was said but giving a brief GCSE history lesson to the SNP about the history of the Commons and how it predates the House of Tudor.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I may be the fifth leader of the house since the honourable gentleman has taken his place but from what I hear it seems that his question is the same regardless. 

So it doesn't make any difference who the leader of the house should be and therefore I fear the answer is going to be much the same.

I would point out that the House of Commons predates the House of Tudor, it started in 1265. The House of Tudor obviously begins with Henry VII.

The honourable gentleman is a very good parliamentary historian but 1265 is when the burgesses come from the towns as he knows perfectly well.

It's not exactly the funniest banter that we have ever heard but the internet did find a way to make it somewhat amusing.

HT Spectator

More: Radio host explains why Jacob Rees-Mogg was wrong to politicise England's cricket world cup win

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