Jacob Rees-Mogg "deluded" thinking reality show will aid political comeback, says Adam Boulton

From the ballroom to SAS training and the Big Brother house to the jungle, they have all appeared on reality TV, "narcissism and money" being the accepted explanations for putting themselves through it. The old quip goes, "Politics is showbiz for ugly people," and none of them could resist having a stab at the real thing.

Still, I never saw Meet the Rees-Moggs coming. Jacob seems to come from an age before television was invented. With his double-breasted suits and uber-conservative views, he relished his reputation as “the MP for the 18th century”. He confesses that he thought it was “a hoax” when he opened the first letter inviting him to let the cameras into his private homes.

But it was no joke. The 55-year-old former Tory cabinet minister has snared the big one, outdoing all previous British political show-offs. He, his lady wife, their six children and domestic servants will not have to dance or eat kangaroo parts. His family just have to be themselves in a Kardashian-style five-part series.

Rees-Mogg has always enjoyed drawing attention to himself. At the age of 12 he was filmed, in collar and tie, talking about his share holdings and his plans to become a millionaire and then prime minister. When he first ran for Parliament he harvested national media coverage, sending out his nanny to canvass for him. The formidable Veronica Crook still works for the family.

Sir Keir Starmer is so keen to protect his children he will not allow them to be named. Jacob says there is no point in hiding when your surname is as distinctive as his. His children are already targets for hate mail and abuse on his social media account. They and their mother – née Helena de Chair, heir to a reported £45 million – give as good as they get in the series. So do the butler, the nanny and the housemaids, seen serving Sunday lunch and ironing Jacob’s starched underpants with the innuendo, “He likes it quite stiff, doesn’t he?”

With two multi-million pound homes in Somerset and London, and two vintage Bentleys, the Rees-Moggs are not like most people. Other than to show off their good fortune, why would they expose themselves to the TV audience? Jacob admits, “I quite enjoy winding people up.”

There is something else that he and the other reality TV politicians have in common. They are almost all ex-politicians, deprived of the jobs that first brought them to attention. The Rees-Mogg team were lucky that their shooting schedule this summer coincided with the snap general election. The series savours the added drama of Jacob losing his seat in parliament.

He’s not unemployed, because he still has his presenting job at GB News, but he openly admits he wants to make a political comeback and thinks the “risk” of the TV show might help him. That’s what they all say – and they are deluded.

Pussy-cat impersonator George Galloway’s by election victories have not lasted long. Nigel Farage MP is still on the fringes in spite of baring his bottom in the Australian bush. He admitted the reported £1.5 million fee “was the biggest paycheck I’ve ever had”.

Donald Trump is the model they all want to emulate. But they have it the wrong way round. Trump was a reality TV star before he ran for the presidency. The Apprentice made Trump a contender, and he is unique in so many ways. Otherwise, Lord Sugar would be safely installed in Number 10. Meet the Rees-Moggs is fun, but don’t expect a return for Jacob Rees-Mogg –other than perhaps for a second series.

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Meet the Rees-Moggs is available to watch on Discovery+ now.

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