Annunziata REES-MOGG

Ican scarcely believe that I’ll soon be bound for Brussels. In the small hours of yesterday morning, shortly after I’d been elected MEP for the Brexit Party in the East of England, I was holed up in the tiny bathroom of a Holiday Inn, watching the results trickling in and trying not to wake my husband, our eight-year-old, our baby or our new puppy in the process. Though I’d barely slept after weeks on the campaign trail, there is something mesmerising about elections; a potent reminder to the elites of who is really in charge.

Like many full-time mums, going back to work brings its complications. There’s the puppy – planned before we ever imagined Britain would be involved in these outrageous elections. Then the commute. Wellconnected Brussels isn’t likely to pose a problem; not so the monthly travelling circus, when the entire EU machinery packs up and heads to Strasbourg in a costly charade designed to massage French egos. Whatever happens, I know the extraordinary weight of public support will sustain me, as it did throughout the campaign.

I’ve canvassed for the Conservative Party for more than three decades. Yet the enthusiasm of the Brexit Party supporters has surpassed anything I’ve experienced before. On a day when every MEP candidate was campaigning elsewhere, our volunteers manned 22 street stalls in Lincolnshire alone. Then there was a novel sensation, even to seasoned door-knockers like me: we ran out of leaflets. One activist, who had never canvassed in his life, managed to deliver 500 in a single day.

We hope to maintain this momentum in the forthcoming Peterborough by-election, where, I’m told, the Conservatives are only canvassing by phone, while the Brexit Party activists are

going door-to-door. Fighting back against our politicians’ mockery of our vote to Leave has given democrats of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life something to be optimistic about, a way of transforming their disillusionment into hope.

Contrary to the lazy stereotypes often levied at Leave voters, there is no “one kind of Brexiteer”. Women have dominated this campaign; seeking us out and often encouraging friends and relatives to join up, too. I’ve had words of encouragement from young mothers, nurses, teachers – even a Brexit-voting yoga instructor (yes, they exist!). Leavers and Remainers have united around a sense of fair play and decency. One acquaintance, a passionate europhile, with whom I often rowed in the run-up to the referendum, ended up voting for the Brexit Party to uphold democracy.

Despite the unmistakable signs of a political earthquake, many Remainers are still determined to ignore the debris, somehow interpreting the turquoisecoloured map as a victory for their side. Having blithely ignored the views of their constituents for years, MPS like Anna Soubry have experienced a long-overdue reckoning. How much longer can they maintain their state of denial?

There’s still much to do before we take up our seats, including snatching a few days of half-term before the madness starts afresh. But for now, my priority will be ensuring the voice of the British people resounds in Brussels. Most of all, I can’t wait to be fired from my new job when we finally leave the EU.

Annunziata Rees-mogg is a Brexit Party MEP

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