Your daddy is a totally horrible person
What ranting Leftie told Mogg’s children as he confronted them at their home
the children of tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg were subjected to a hate-filled tirade when hard-Left activists told them ‘your daddy’s a totally horrible person’.
the youngsters looked stunned as they endured the rant by anarchist group Class War on the doorstep of the family’s London home.
the group’s 71-year-old founder Ian Bone told them ‘lots of people hate your daddy’ as he also targeted the children’s nanny. the ugly encounter was condemned by MPs across the political spectrum last night.
theresa May called it ‘completely unacceptable’, while Labour MP Wes Streeting branded the episode ‘cruel and shameful’.
however, an unrepentant Mr Bone appeared to be revelling in the backlash, telling the Mail: ‘this has just been perfect – little effort and maximum publicity.’ he said he did not expect to see the children but maintained they ‘need to know’ that their father is a ‘brutish, selfish man’.
he said: ‘I regret none of the things we said...I should have said a lot more. there was nothing threatening, there was no bad language.’
the veteran activist is friends with Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers and has in the past boasted that a senior figure in the Labour leader’s office – Andrew Fisher – is a neighbour and supporter of his controversial group.
Mr Rees-Mogg, his wife helena de Chair, their nanny and four of their six children were harangued by the anarchists on their doorstep on tuesday night. the incident was filmed by Class War, who claimed to be ‘offering escape’ to the family’s nanny Veronica Crook.
Mr Bone, who claims Mrs Crook is being used as a ‘trophy’ and is not paid the minimum wage, was joined by his partner Jane Nicholl, 68, who dressed up as the nanny using a wig. the small group also included yoga teacher Adam Clifford, who was dressed as the MP.
In the footage, Mr Bone can be seen confronting the tory MP demanding to know how much the nanny is paid and exclaiming we don’t want to listen to your ‘educated eton b ******* ’ before turning to the children.
‘Your dad won’t answer the question? Your daddy is a totally horrible person,’ he shouted at one of the boys.
‘Lots of people don’t like your daddy, you know that? he’s probably not told you about that. Lots of people hate him. ‘You know the nanny that looks after you? Daddy doesn’t pay her very much! Daddy says the minimum wage doesn’t count for anything!
he added: ‘Poor Nanny Crook who looks after you and wipes your bottom, she doesn’t get enough money every week – daddy doesn’t care!’
Mr Bone only stopped ranting when the nanny herself – who has worked for Mr Rees-Mogg’s family for more than 50 years – appears on the doorstep. One of the boys immediately hugged her as Mr Bone accused her of having ‘Stockholm syndrome’ when she insisted she was happy.
As the family retreated into their home, Mr Bone warned the MP’s wife: ‘We’ll be back every week, we’re not going away.’
the incident, which lasted several minutes, was posted on Class War’s Facebook page with the caption: ‘Like JRM gives a s*** about our kids? F*** off...’ the group brandished a banner saying ‘we must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live’ – the same slogan used at a union protest last week attended by shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Last night the incident prompted anger from both supporters and critics of arch Brexiteer Mr Rees-Mogg.
Former Labour Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper tweeted: ‘Leave the kids out of it. Don’t care what your views on Jacob Rees-Mogg, it is disgraceful to target his family, and shameful when politics becomes personal abuse. Children and family are never fair game.’ her party colleague David Lammy added: ‘there is no justification for intimidating children and family members of politicians like this.’ tory MP Anna Soubry said: ‘Disgraceful behaviour. More evidence of how low our politics have sunk.’
home Secretary Sajid Javid branded the episode ‘absolutely disgraceful’, while theresa May condemned the abuse in an official statement which said: ‘No elected politician or their family should be subjected to intimidation or abuse in that way.’
It is not the first time Class War have hit the headlines for their heavy-handed approach. the group was behind a vicious mob attack on the Cereal Killer Café in east London in 2015 for selling cereals for up to £4.40 a bowl.
Last night, Mr Rees-Mogg said his children were ‘absolutely fine’ after the incident and dismissed the stunt as a ‘few unorganised anarchists’.
‘I wouldn’t get too excited about it. It was a few anarchists who turned up and it wasn’t very well organised. It wasn’t terribly serious,’ he told LBC radio.
the MP said the protesters went as far as approaching one of the children to hand him a pound coin they had found on the floor to pay their nanny with.
Mr Rees-Mogg later told the Mail his children were ‘aware that in political life not everyone is going to like me’. tory MP Ben Gummer said: ‘I am the child of a politician who had a big media profile.
‘I had my share of this stuff. All I can say is that seeing it done to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s children still brings an oh-so-angry lump to my throat.’
‘Harangued on the doorstep’