Jacob Rees-Mogg hits the road

Last September 20,000 filled London’s Millennium Done – sorry, O2 – to hear former US president Barack Obama speak about his time in office. Now another huge figure of recent political history is going on the road to pass on his wisdom – albeit to slightly more bijou venues.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been largely twiddling his thumbs after his little-watched reality show Meet The Rees-Moggs was cancelled and his GB News presenting hours were slashed in half, while his Starkey & Mogg podcast with David Starkey, after a brief initial flurry, seems to have stalled after just three episodes.

Now, perhaps inspired by Obama’s arena-filling ability, Rees-Mogg is launching his own live show, Mogg Unbuttoned – “a series of live events that will take me from the green benches of Westminster to theatres across the UK” (although it should be pointed out that it wasn’t his live show which took him from the green benches of Westminster but the voters of North East Somerset who ejected him at the last general election).

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And eschewing the big venues, he is playing some very slightly smaller ones. The tour starts in April at Hereford’s Courtyard Studio (capacity: 120) and Worcester’s Huntingdon Hall, where the capacity is 330 but, happily, “approximately 80 seats can be removed for dancing”.

Then it’s on to Shrewsbury’s Walker Theatre (capacity 250) and, ambitiously, Lincoln’s New Theatre Royal, which can seat 475. Its Victorian building will no doubt appeal to Rees-Mogg while, if he hangs around afterwards, just over a week later it plays host to foul-mouthed comedian Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, whose on-stage attire is only slightly less ludicrous than that of Rees-Mogg.

Then it’s the end of the tour show at Winchester’s Theatre Royal (capacity 400), whose website promises “a political evening unlike any other: entertaining, enlightening, and just a little bit Moggical. Tickets are limited. The debate, however, is unlimited!”.

Quite. Don’t all rush at once!