Every day is a tumultuous session in the UK House of Commons, as negotiations over how the UK can exit the European Union without triggering a No-Deal scenario descend into chaos time and again.
Unfazed by the turmoil and by the fact that the Conservative Party had only recently lost its majority of one, the Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg added fuel to the fire by reclining laconically onto multiple seats while Parliament was in an emergency session.
Rees-Mogg held this position for several minutes, prompting Green Party MP Caroline Luca to mention it in her speech, “A lot of talk about democracy tonight, and the leader of the house, who I have to say, with his body language this evening, has been so contemptuous of this House and of the People”. The fiery MP from Bolsover David Skinner then interjected saying “Sit up, man!”
Rees-Morgan has been nicknamed the ‘Honourable Member for the 18th century’, has been the subject of criticism for his eccentric and ‘posh’ mannerisms. His slouched posture in parliament, however, led to a wave of criticism and memes at his expense.
Actor Hugh Laurie tweeted saying “Jacob Rees-Mogg lolling horizontally on the front bench during tonight;s emergency debate is as insolent and insufferable as anything I’ve seen.”
The activist group ‘Led by Donkeys’ projected an image of Rees-Mogg’s infamous moment onto Edinburgh Castle.
One image that did the rounds was a photoshopped picture of Rees-Mogg on an IKEA recliner titled Mögg. Incidentally, Rees-Mogg has stated in 2018 that he had “never been to an IKEA” and had no ambitions to go either.
One meme poked at the steady decline of the Conservative Party’s majority in the House over the years, anticipating a future dip.
On Reddit, the image of Rees-Mogg reclining was posted on a subreddit dedicated to posting photographs that resemble Renaissance-era paintings, captioned ‘The Hubris of Man’.
Rees-Morgan himself tried to join in the fun, retweeting a tweet by retail store Poundland which suggested that he pick up one of their recliners instead.
Rees-Mogg had earlier tweeted, “Sovereignty comes from the people to parliament, it does not come to parliament out of a void. We should recognise who are our masters and show ourselves to be their lieges and servants, not their overlords.”