Should the Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg be criticised over the confidence vote?

DOMINIC SANDBROOK painted an accurate picture of rebel Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. As Theresa May’s principal detractor, he reminds me of a frustrated house master of a second-rate public school who knows he’ll never make it any higher. Politically, it would be appropriate to say: ‘Goodbye, Mr Chips.’ Geordie Campbell, aldwick, W. Sussex. THE Dominic Sandbrook article on Rees-Mogg was an unworthy piece of character assassination and meanness. Up until the now-discredited withdrawal deal was revealed, Rees-Mogg frequently voiced his support of Mrs May’s stated intention to deliver the referendum decision and the promises she made to the country in her Lancaster House speech. Unlike many others, he has been consistent in his views and has presented reasoned arguments as to why he feels the Government should uphold the democratic decision that has been made.

However, Sandbrook dismisses rees-Mogg’s personal and political principles as a reflection of ‘our more strident prejudices’ — something he should take to heart himself, as he openly declares a dislike of the man. As he suggests in his opening paragraph, how someone copes with losing is a window into their true nature — also applicable to those MPs who seek to thwart Brexit at all costs.

C. SIMPSON, Wokingham, Berks. WHAT a pathetic whine from Mr Sandbrook about a decent man, simply because he grew up in a mansion, went to Eton (like so many of our Tory prime ministers, including David Cameron) and comes from a wealthy family. The sheer spite and vindictiveness against a man whose only ‘crime’ was to try to remove a useless and duplicitous Prime Minister, who — while making speeches at Lancaster House and in Florence that made it obvious she was leading us out of the clutches of the EU — was all the while conniving at keeping Britain firmly in Europe as a vassal state. Mr Rees-Mogg is a man of principle and is a practising Christian who does not force his religion on others. I watched the debate, and when he spoke after Mrs May ‘won’ the confidence vote (thanks to the payroll voters), he was his usual urbane and calm self. I did not detect ‘icy rage’ in his voice, which was reasoned and courteous despite his disappointment at the situation. He is a true gentleman who appears old-fashioned only to those who lack his courtesy and moral compass. Would that there were more like him! BRONWEN SADLER, Headcorn, Kent.