Rees-Mogg says PM stays even if he wins by one vote but previous comments come back to haunt him

Mr Rees-Mogg today suggested Boris Johnson would remain PM even if he won by only one vote, but his previous comments on the contest involving Theresa May have come back to haunt him.

Back in 2019, when Theresa May faced a confidence vote, Jacob Rees-Mogg was organising against her. 

And when she lost the support of 117 of her own MPs, he said that was a terrible result and that she should really resign.

Now he is one of Boris Johnson’s chief cheerleaders, he has a very different take on that.

Low barrier

Mogg insisted that the 15% threshold needed for a no-confidence is “a relatively low barrier,” adding: “I don’t think we should be surprised by it.”

He said: “I think you would find in all parties at all times there is about 15% who for whatever reason don’t like the leader of the party.

“There is a strong element of people who don’t like Brexit, who would like to reverse Brexit. There are other who are far from being gruntled for other reasons.”

Asked about booing at St Paul’s Cathedral, he said: “A little bit of booing, a little bit of cheering that is perfectly normal.”

May

But let’s have a look at comments he made when Theresa May was facing the same no-confidence vote…

1.

Remember when Jacob Rees-Mogg said this after Theresa May won a vote of confidence.

"It's a very bad result for the Prime Minister… clearly the Prime Minister has lost the support of the backbenchers of the Tory Party & that's not a good position to be in." pic.twitter.com/GyBjXjOuHB

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 6, 2022

2.

Jacob Rees-Mogg says a majority of just one vote among Conservative MPs would be enough to give Boris Johnson a ‘clear mandate’ to remain as leader tonight.

Here’s what he said after a third of the party voted to oust Theresa May. pic.twitter.com/Hgav35PAAR

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) June 6, 2022

3.

"Jacob Rees-Mogg tells Theresa May to quit after third of Tories voted against her" – https://t.co/45HzIsrN6X https://t.co/Sp92ytfOVn

— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) June 6, 2022

4.

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s reaction to the Theresa May result in 2018 – when she won 2/3 MPs support pic.twitter.com/H0ARW5cnH1

— Tamara Cohen (@tamcohen) June 6, 2022

5.

“Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led calls for the Tory confidence vote, said losing the support of a third of her MPs was a "terrible result for the Prime Minister" & called on her to resign”

A reminder to Jacob Rees-Mogg about the resignation threshold he set for Theresa May in Dec 2018.

— Stewart Wood (@StewartWood) June 6, 2022

If that wasn’t enough for Mogg today he also got into a conversation with activist Steve Bray outside of Parliament.

Watch

Jacob Rees Mogg just now on the Green at Parliament trying to tell us this is all about Brexit. pic.twitter.com/PRUiFhdpvE

— GET TORIES DONE – GENERAL ELECTION NOW! (@snb19692) June 6, 2022

Related: Watch: Johnson’s own Anti-Corruption champion just quit