Jacob Rees-Mogg | Can you tell your staff how to speak?

One of the more high-profile selections in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent cabinet shake-up was the appointment of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg to the position of Commons Leader.

Rees-Mogg, who has been a Conservative MP for his constituency of North-East Somerset since 2010, has been the subject of much media attention due to his outspoken views on the issue of Brexit.

However, this weekend Rees-Mogg, who was educated at both Eton College boarding school and Trinity College, Oxford, has been the subject of debate after a memo sent out to his political aides outlined rules on speech and grammar whilst working, including strict use of only imperial measurements, and the use of the suffix Esq for all non-titled males.

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Whilst the memo detailed Rees-Mogg’s preferences for speech and grammar, it also outlined a list of words and phrases that the MP considers ‘unacceptable’, including: ‘very’; ‘due to’; ‘ongoing’; ‘equal’; ‘yourself’; and the phrase ‘I am pleased to learn’.