JACOB Rees-Mogg is reportedly sounding out the possibility of throwing his hat into the ring to replace Theresa May as Tory leader and Prime Minister.
The Eton-educated MP whose first foray into politics was a candidate in Central Fife in 1997, is said to be giving “careful consideration” to the possibility that he might just be the man to lead the country through Brexit.
There is growing speculation over who will succeed May, whose leadership was damaged by the disastrous General Election. Reports yesterday suggested the Prime Minister was planning to apologise to Tory activists for the poll at the autumn conference.
Brexit Minister David Davis is the front runner for her job, with Boris Johnson another favourite. But a number of Tories are reportedly looking for someone different. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has had her name mentioned as a possible contender. Over the weekend she was given an unexpected endorsement from disgraced former deputy chair of the party Jeffrey Archer.
The millionaire novelist, jailed in 2001 for committing perjury in a 1987 libel action, in which he lied to win £500,000 in damages from the Daily Star after they alleged he slept with a prostitute, said Davidson could be the next Margaret Thatcher.
Archer, who is appearing at the Fringe this week, said party stalwarts south of the Border have been impressed by the Edinburgh MSP.
“She’s a one-off. She’s her own woman, and they like that and admire that. She’s unquestionably a star. I did say to Lord Sanderson about five years ago – he used to be chairman of the Conservative Party in Scotland – we were at a cricket match, and I said, ‘I like the look of this Ruth Davidson,’ and he told me: ‘Keep your hands off, she’s ours.’”
Archer added: “I see the same ability to believe in herself, and stick by it. She doesn’t strike me as someone who wavers. She makes opinions and stands by them. And that’s very much Margaret Thatcher.”
Davidson has previously strongly denied any interest replacing May, saying the only job she wants is Nicola Sturgeon’s as First Minister.
Ress-Mogg also denied coveting the top job. “I think if I threw my hat in the ring it would be thrown back at me pretty quickly,” he said.
But a close friend told the paper: “Jacob would never do anything to destabilise May, but should she stand aside ... he is starting to look at some of his peers and wonder what they have got that he hasn’t.”
Writing on the Conservative Home website, Scottish Tory activist Anne Sutherland, said the pro-bedroom tax, anti-gay marriage founder of Somerset Capital Markets, who manage assets worth £6.6 billion, was reassuringly right-wing.
“No matter what your opinion of his voting record, Rees-Mogg is a man of conviction and principle,” Sutherland wrote. “He is unapologetically Conservative in a time when the party has U-turned on key issues, announced policies which look like they belong in Labour’s manifesto, and in some cases were lifted straight out of a previous editions.”
According to one of the Prime Minister’s advisers, May’s apology, described as a “May-a-culpa”, will see the Tory boss “say sorry very loudly and clearly to the tens of thousands of our supporters who did all the door-knocking in the election.”
The adviser added: “She will say she feels the same pain as they do, say she has learned her lesson and is ready to change, take advice and be more open.
“She will ask them to trust her and stick with her through Brexit. She has to stop comments about her being robotic – it isn’t true.”
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