In 1521 at the Diet of Worms, Martin Luther stood before an authoritarian and institutionally corrupt Catholic Church and declared, ‘Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.’
On Wednesday a faithful son of a reformed Catholic Church stood before the authoritarian mainstream media and declared, ‘I am a loyal son of the Catholic Church, a loyal conservative, and a loyal subject of her Majesty.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP was led to believe he would be speaking about Brexit on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Instead Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid interrogated him on his views on gay marriage and abortion. Unlike previous politicians, Rees-Mogg did not dodge the tough questions. He answered them from the heart; he walked towards the fire.
Jacob Rees-Mogg believes in the sacrament of marriage, which under the catechism of the Roman Catholic Church must be between one man and one woman, for life, to the exclusion of all others, and open to life.
His views on abortion also caused a storm when he explained, ‘I am completely opposed to abortion. Life is sacrosanct and begins at the point of conception . . . abortion is morally indefensible.’
When he was pushed, he said this included cases of rape and incest, which is wholly consistent with his view that life is sacred. Those who believe life is sacred do not believe babies conceived through rape should be executed for the crime of an adult. Rees-Mogg is against the intentional killing of innocent human life. Some people are Catholic – get over it.
Predictably, the witch hunt got into full swing, the Guardian calling for his exclusion from public life, and indeed for all Catholics to be excluded from public life.
But Jacob Rees-Mogg is a man for all seasons. He promptly tweeted in Latin, from the creed, One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, with a link to the interview. There was no mealy-mouthed apology from him.
What all this demonstrates is that Rees-Mogg is the ‘real deal’. He is a man of honesty, integrity and principles. Think how difficult it must be to discuss these challenging issues on breakfast TV without notice. He did not flinch – he is unspun and I think in the long run the British public will admire him for it.
This was a brave stance by Mogg. He knows there are absolutely no votes for him in this – it is not even a party political issue and such votes are matters of conscience in Parliament. He will have known that this will hit any leadership hopes, although I sincerely do not believe he has any.
The public often say they are sick of politicians not answering the questions, bowing to political correctness and being evasive. Rees-Mogg is the antithesis to all the cynical, shallow, empty political spin. He is a decent, moral man of sincerely held beliefs. He, like Luther (who felt in good conscience he must abandon the mother church), said, ‘Here I stand, I can do no other.’
So the Leftist bullies and their friends in the media can rain down all the vitriol and hate upon his head that they wish. And Jacob Rees-Mogg will stand his ground. He can do no other.
So of course he will never become leader of the party. They will find some snake, some well-spun woman or man, who will continue to kow-tow to the Left, run the party into the ground and cause the young to abandon them in their droves. They will move to the Left, trashing the country in the process.
The point is not that Jacob Rees-Mogg is not good enough for the party; the point is that the party is not good enough for him.
