Jacob Rees-Mogg takes hilarious SWIPE at FRANCE as fellow MPs struggle not to laugh
JACOB Rees-Mogg took a hilarious swipe at France questioning how the UK could be below them in any category of competition, in a rip-roaring House of Commons speech.
Rees-Mogg takes a dig at France in freedom of press argument
Jacob Rees-Mogg was fervently against a move to establish a statutory inquiry dubbed Leveson Part Two.
He said: “The freedom of the press is so overwhelmingly precious that we should preserve it even if sometimes the press upsets us.
“It is amazing how many people who have had run-ins with the press feel it should be more tightly regulated.
“The Daily Mail, fascinatingly, did a study of our lordships house and found that over a third of those who voted to shackle the press, had been embarrassed by the press.
“A jewel that has become tarnished because of actions that were taken by us.
“We have fallen in the rank of free nations over four years from 30th to 40th, we are now behind Trinidad & Tobago.
“But perhaps most insultingly, we are even below the French.
“The clauses before us today should fill us with shame because they go to the heart of what we should believe in terms of our liberties, freedoms and the rule of law.
“Trials have gone ahead and juries have returned verdicts and they were not the ones the establishment expected.
“By in large the journalists were found not guilty. The receiving of information as a journalist is your job, the giving of information as a policeman is against the law.
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But perhaps most insultingly, we are even below the French
“Now we want to put those found not guilty through it again. Put them in the stocks, let them be quizzed and questioned and interrogated so the freedom of the press can be undermined and be pressurised by those who have sometimes had the sharp lash of the press’ tongue against them.
“It reeks of self-interest.”
An MP sitting near to the arch-Brexiteer said that was “very rude and not true”.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband led moves to amend the Data Protection Bill to establish a statutory inquiry dubbed Leveson part two.
But this was rejected by 304 votes to 295, a majority of nine, when pushed to a vote in the Commons - prompting cries of "shame" in the chamber.
Five Conservative MPs rebelled to support the measure, including former ministers Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve and Crispin Blunt, while Labour's John Grogan rebelled to oppose the amendment.
Culture Secretary Matt Hancock had warned such proposals would have had a "catastrophic" impact on local newspapers and risked making it "near impossible" to uncover stories of abuse.
Reacting to the vote on Leveson part two, Mr Hancock wrote on Twitter: "A great day for a free and fair press."
But Mr Miliband tweeted: "Very disappointed for the victims of phone-hacking and press abuse that we did not win the vote for Leveson 2.
"The battle goes on to keep our promise to them to get the truth they deserve and protection for victims in the future."