Top 60 Jacob Rees-Mogg Quotes

Zero-hours contracts offer an entry point for people who are either new to the workforce or have commitments that make it hard to work full-time.

Tony Blair adopted the accent of the audience he was speaking to, which worked very well initially, but then voters began to perceive him as phoney. The ‘man of the people’ act is the height of condescension.

Zero-hours contracts are a low proportion of the workforce; they provide a route into employment and flexibility for staff. They benefit business, consumers, and taxpayers by keeping costs down, and they boost productivity, allowing the efficient use of labour.

Free Trade puts consumers at the centre of economic activity. It lowers the cost of imports, which gives people the opportunity to buy more with the same amount of money: domestic producers have to compete with the lowest global costs or invest in new business.

Employers’ national income is a particular disincentive to employ because it is an expense without benefit.

I have never been to IKEA, no.

I’ve made no pretence to be a modern man at all, ever.

In the U.S., free speech and the press are protected by the First Amendment. It has a clarity unmatched by modern legislators and declares that ‘Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or the press.’

One doesn’t need money to run for Parliament, but it is undoubtedly expensive.

In the 2010s, it is not the price of bread that is falsely and unnecessarily inflated by obstinate politicians but that of energy. There are cheap sources of energy either available or possible, but there is a reluctance to use them.

I’m not interested in the past, I’m interested in the future. Europe is past.

The E.U. is a backward-looking project based on an economic model of the 20th century.

It’s widely accepted that it is reasonable for a government to use tax policy to change behaviour.

In an age of considerable bureaucratic burdens, a business knowing immediately that someone who has the relevant training is eligible to work in the United Kingdom is an important convenience and helps keep costs down.

A power of recall that depended solely on the electorate and was not subject to unnecessary hurdles of Parliamentary procedures would show trust in the good sense and fairness of the British people. In return, they might trust Parliamentarians a little more.

In England and, later, the United Kingdom, Habeas Corpus is a right of great antiquity: Anyone who is arrested must be brought before a court, but this does not apply in continental countries.

Assad is unquestionably guilty of the most grievous fault and has inflicted horrors upon his people.

I very much like potatoes.

Electorally, the number of women who want to wear a burka is insignificant, yet it is important to defend such a minority against the tyranny of the majority.

To have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens, I think, is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are.

Extradition treaties date back at least to 1259 B.C., when the Hittite King Hattusili the Third and Ramesses the Second signed a treaty of ‘peace and brotherhood for all time.’ They have become more commonplace as international travel has become easier and sensibly streamlined.

When Margaret Thatcher was leader, she and Michael Heseltine were hardly soulmates, but she would not have allowed personal rivalry to take the heat off the Labour Party, whose own deep internal divisions are buried in other news now, nor would she have countenanced any attempt to have a show trial.

We must be out of the protectionist common external tariff, which mainly protects inefficient E.U. industries at the cost to British consumers.

One of the great constraints on economic growth and employment is that the tax and benefits system has grown up over generations and does not give the right incentives. Increasing the minimum wage does not solve this problem.

You’ve got to judge people, ultimately, by their actions rather than their words.

The state ought not to intervene to prevent individuals from doing things that not only are no risk to others but are of no risk to themselves either.

I would rather my constituents were warm and prosperous than cold and impoverished as we are overtaken by emerging markets who understandably put people before polar bears.

If we want to change a law, we can do that in Parliament. That is a democratic right that has often been taken from the E.U.

Press freedom has great virtues. It is not about irresponsible scandal-mongering, although that may be part of the picture. It is a means of revealing wrongdoing.

‘Ever closer union’ is one of the totemically controversial phrases in the European Union’s Treaties. It seems to give weight to the view that the scheme is designed to end in a single state and that those who agreed the texts have long know this, even if they have been unwilling to admit it to the British people.

The appetite of the British people for a long-term involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict could not be weaker. There is no wish to have any further long-term obligations of a military kind that do not affect the most direct national interest.

It is hard to see taxing plastic bags as one of the great issues of our time that merits the foremost place in our finest statesmen’s minds. It is an absurd little issue, a picayune proportion of household waste, and a pointless inconvenience in people’s lives.

A poor worker is taxed heavily to receive his own money back with a modest supplement. Surely it would be more efficient just to pay the supplement and take him out of direct tax altogether.

I’m not a moderniser. I accept that things like escalators do need an upgrade every now and then, but I think the fundamental principles of Conservatism have a long thread running through them that does not need to be modernised.

I went into investments out of interest and thought I knew a little. The longer I’ve been involved, the less I realise I’d known.

When I’m overseas, I suspect I look like Mr. Bean.

I believe that politicians should implement the promises that they’ve given in manifestos.

I think, with a negotiation, you have to go in knowing what you want, knowing what your bottom line is, and knowing what you might accept if you’re absolutely pushed.

Constitutionally, a revising chamber is useful and important. The first occasion I know of in history when the Lords fulfilled this role was in 1539 when Henry VIII’s act of proclamations was neutered by their lordships so effectively that the Act was repealed in 1547.

Perhaps one day the world will end, giving the last group to predict it the satisfaction of being right – but as many have been wrong so far, it does not seem wise to make public policy on the back of these fears.

I think it’s true – economically, you want to bake a bigger cake rather than slicing up an existing cake differently.

Mark Carney is one of the enemies of Brexit. He has opposed it consistently.

It is obviously sensible the crossing of a border ought not to protect a criminal from the consequences of his crime.

Before the government decides to raise the minimum wage, it must consider the effects of the tax and benefits merry-go-round that affects the low-paid.

It is not for me to enforce my morals on others.

The promise of welfare and welfare regulation mean that there is no incentive to accept jobs that do not meet basic standards.

London’s central role in the financial market would be undermined if wealthy foreigners did not want to come here.

The Catholic Church’s teachings are authoritative. There is a moral absolute on abortion – that it is wrong.

Many foreign property owners work in the City of London and are encouraged to bring their expertise and earning power to this country because of the favourable capital tax environment. Attacking their property profit may encourage some to leave, but it would certainly deter others from coming in the first place.

A constitutional monarchy requires the monarch to be above politics but to be fully informed about politics.

I like some vegetables.

If we say to the E.U. our backstop position is that we will be the vassal state, why should the E.U. make any effort to make any arrangement other than us to be a vassal state?

I would always vote for Tory candidates in the United Kingdom, and I would probably be Republican if I was an American.

Freedom rests on a rational distrust of government; government will always use its power to benefit the incumbent administration.

Supermarkets have contributed as much to increasing the standard of living in the United Kingdom as almost any government policy. They bring a level of convenience and quality that was unknown to previous generations at a highly competitive price because of their buying power.

If people ignore the rules already, new regulations are not likely to deter them.

Obstacles to trade put up the cost both to consumers and businesses.

I’m of the opinion that one of the perks of being in Parliament is not having to do the school run.