title: Proud Boys

text: The group then publicly released its new bylaw online, with the names of its "Elder Chapter" members listed and redacted. The redaction was later discovered to be botched, as the list of names can be accessed by selecting over the black bar of the released document. A day later, the chapter announced that Van Dyke was no longer leader of the group, and Enrique Tarrio is the group's new chairman.


title: Proud Boys

text: A Proud Boys rally called Demand Free Speech took place on July 6, 2019, in Washington, D.C.'s Freedom Plaza and Pershing Park, drawing about 250 people. McInnes, Laura Loomer and Milo Yiannopoulos appeared, while former Trump advisor Roger Stone and Jacob Wohl did not. A counter-protest and dance party across the street drew more people than the main rally. Police said there were only minor skirmishes between the far-right and antifa, and no arrests were made.


title: Proud Boys

text: Republican candidate Omar Navarro, a perennial challenger for Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters' congressional seat, withdrew from speaking at the event, tweeting that his ex-girlfriend DeAnna Lorraine, a self-described "MAGA relationship expert", had threatened him, using cocaine and having sex with members of the Proud Boys. In response to Navarro's tweets, the Proud Boys issued a video featuring former "InfoWars" staff member Joe Biggs and Ethan Nordean—the star of a viral video showing him beating up an antifa protester—in which they "banished" Navarro from the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys' chairman Enrique Tarrio described the group as "pro-drugs". Other speakers who had been scheduled for the rally, including Pizzagate promoters Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec, had already cancelled their appearances for reasons not apparently related to Navarro's charges.


title: Proud Boys

text: The Proud Boys and Joe Biggs organized an August 17, 2019 demonstration in Portland attended by members of several far-right groups. The End Domestic Terrorism rally, which was sometimes subtitled "Better Dead than Red", was intended to promote the idea that antifa should be classified as "domestic terrorism". It received national attention, including a tweet from President Trump. One day prior to the rally, Patriot Prayer's Joey Gibson, who had organized similar events in 2017 and 2018, was taken into custody on charges of felony rioting during a May 1, 2019 incident. The Proud Boys organized the August event in response to a video that went viral of masked demonstrators assaulting conservative blogger Andy Ngo at a Portland rally on June 29, 2019. The End Domestic Terrorism event drew more counter-demonstrators than participants (at least one group urged its members in advance to not attend) and ended with the Proud Boys' requesting a police escort to leave.


title: Proud Boys

text: Like other far-right groups, the Proud Boys have shown interest in making common cause with the anti-vaccination movement, presumably for recruiting and fundraising purposes.


title: Proud Boys

text: On May 1, 2020, the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey compiled a report examining the influence of the Proud Boys on anti-lockdown protests and COVID-19 misinformation. Members of the group shared conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, a "plandemic", and COVID-19 vaccines on social media, especially Telegram.


title: Proud Boys

text: On May 10, 2020, a bulletin on COVID-19 protest disinformation campaigns by the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC) described how "the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, has been active in spreading conspiracy theories regarding Covid-19 on Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram," suggesting that "a faction of elites are weaponizing the virus, and a vaccine would likely be a tool for population control and mind control." The CIAC bulletin also warned that "spread of disinformation has the potential to cause civil unrest and mass panic".


title: Proud Boys

text: On October 1, 2020, "The Guardian" reported several United States agencies variously described the Proud Boys as "a dangerous 'white supremacist' group", "white supremacists", "extremists" and as "a gang", with law enforcement showing concern "about the group's menace to minority groups and police officers, and its conspiracy theories", including COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories.


title: Proud Boys

text: A group of Proud Boys was present at a large rally against public health measures, on January 23, 2022. The event was organized by the anti-vaccination group Children's Health Defense and featured leaders of the movement such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Del Bigtree.


title: Proud Boys

text: In January 2020, the Proud Boys attended a large Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Virginia. They are opposed to Black Lives Matter protests and see attempts to remove statues of Confederate leaders and other historical figures as a "left-wing plot to destroy American history".


title: Proud Boys

text: On May 30, 2020, Facebook officials reported that internal systems flagged activity from Proud Boys-related accounts encouraging "armed agitators" to attend protests following the murder of George Floyd.


title: Proud Boys

text: The group remained active in the Pacific Northwest and had a dozen chapters in Idaho, Oregon and Washington by 2020. In June 2020, members of the Proud Boys rallied at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, Washington, in an effort to confront protesters.


title: Proud Boys

text: Washington resident and Proud Boys member Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, known for brawling in the streets of Portland and Seattle during political protests, was arrested in Washington on August 28, 2020. He was wanted for multiple probation violations related to his 2018 misdemeanor assault conviction that left a protester with stitches and a concussion in June 2018. Toese, previously affiliated with Patriot Prayer, had been observed participating in other assaults with members of the Proud Boys, including an assault at a Clark County, Washington mall in May 2018 and an assault in Seattle in June 2020.


title: Proud Boys

text: Texas-based Proud Boys member Alan Swinney was arrested on September 30, 2020, and held in Oregon on "multiple assault charges, pointing a firearm at another, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of tear gas, stun gun or mace." Swinney had been recorded firing airsoft pellets at protesters and journalists, and at one point brandished a revolver at his opponents during a Portland, Oregon protest in August 2020.


title: Proud Boys

text: In the first 2020 presidential debate on September 29, 2020, President Donald Trump was asked by moderator Chris Wallace: "Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups, and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we have seen in Portland?" Trump replied: "Sure. Sure, I am willing to do that." He then asked for clarification, saying: "Who would you like me to condemn?" Wallace mentioned "white supremacists and right wing militia". During the exchange, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden replied "Proud Boys" and Trump replied: "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left, because this is not a right-wing problem." Shortly after, Joe Biggs, one of the Proud Boys organizers, shared through his Parler social media account a logo with the president's words "Stand back" and "Stand by".


title: Proud Boys

text: One researcher said that Proud Boys memberships on Telegram channels grew nearly ten percent after the debate. "The Washington Post" reported that Trump's comments were quickly "enshrined in memes, including one depicting Trump in one of the Proud Boys' signature polo shirts. Another meme showed Trump's quote alongside an image of bearded men carrying American flags and appearing to prepare for a fight."


title: Proud Boys

text: On September 30, President Trump clarified his statement, stating that he "doesn't know what the Proud Boys are" and that "they should stand down. Let law enforcement do their work." On October 1, Trump said on Sean Hannity's show: "I've said it many times, and let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don't know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing. But I condemn that."


title: Proud Boys

text: During the second and final presidential debate on October 22, Democratic candidate Joe Biden mistakenly referred to the Proud Boys as "poor boys", a slip that went viral on social media.


title: Proud Boys

text: During the 2020 presidential campaign in October, threatening emails claiming to be from the Proud Boys were sent to Democratic voters in Alaska, Arizona, Florida and Pennsylvania, the last three of which were swing states in the upcoming election. The emails warned: "You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you." Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio denied the group's involvement and said he had spoken to the FBI about it. Tarrio told "The Washington Post" that "[t]wo weeks ago I believe we had Google Cloud services drop us from their platform, so then we initiated a url transfer, which is still in process. We kind of just never used it." "Miami New Times" reported that the emails came from info@proudboysofficial.com, one of two websites belonging to the Proud Boys, and which Tarrio said had not been updated in a year and a half. Tarrio added that an authentic email from the Proud Boys would come from proudboysusa.com. The FBI announced that Iranian intelligence was responsible for the spoofed emails sent to intimidate Florida voters, and added that Russia was also working to influence the election. Officials from each country denied the accusations.


title: Proud Boys

text: On December 12, 2020, members of the Proud Boys targeted Ashbury United Methodist Church, the oldest historically black church in Washington, D.C., after pro-Trump protests earlier that day. They flashed white supremacist hand signs and tore down and burned a Black Lives Matter sign that had been raised by the church. Police said that more than three dozen people were arrested and four churches were vandalised. Reverend Ianther M. Mills, the church's pastor, described the acts as "reminiscent of cross burnings" and expressed sadness that local police had failed to intervene. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio claimed responsibility for the incident, which police have designated a hate crime.


title: Proud Boys

text: Tarrio was arrested on January 4, 2021, after police found weapon magazines in his car during a traffic stop. He was charged with one count of destruction of property (a misdemeanor) and two counts of possession of high-capacity ammunition feeding devices (a felony). Tarrio pleaded guilty to both charges and on August 24, 2021, was sentenced to almost six months in jail, starting on 6 September.


title: Proud Boys

text: The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was also vandalized on December 12, 2020, sued the Proud Boys and Tarrio. The judge in the case also issued an injunction banning Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, except for limited exceptions related to court matters.


title: Proud Boys

text: Members of the Proud Boys participated in the attack on the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021, where some members of the group appeared wearing orange hats. Some members wore all black clothing, rather than their usual black and yellow attire, as Tarrio had suggested in a Parler post days earlier, which prosecutors said was an apparent reference to mimicking the appearance of antifa members.


title: Proud Boys

text: A review by the "Wall Street Journal" of social media posts from Proud Boys members showed that the group repeatedly invoked Trump's messages as a call to action, and were disheartened by the arrests and what they perceived to be Trump's lack of action in the days leading up to Joe Biden's inauguration.


title: Proud Boys

text: On December 30, 2020, the Proud Boys held a videoconference to announce the founding of an elite chapter of their members called the Ministry of Self-Defense. At the conference, Enrique Tarrio instructed members that they should avoid other protesters, behave in an orderly manner, and never cross police lines.


title: Proud Boys

text: According to the ADL, a former member of the Proud Boys founded the neo-Nazi extremist group NSC-131 in 2019. NSC-131 also attended the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and have bragged about stealing police gear such as helmets and batons.


title: Proud Boys

text: A New York Times investigative video titled "How the Proud Boys Breached the Capitol" and testimony and video by documentary filmmaker Nick Quested during hearings of the January 6th Committee showed that the Proud Boys played a key role in the January 6th Insurrection. The Times video investigation concludes "...the Proud Boys played critical roles, from the first moment of violence to multiple breaches of the Capitol while leaving the impression that it was just ordinary protesters leading the charge." Similarly, on June 9, 2022, filmmaker Nick Quested testified to the January 6th Committee that:


title: Proud Boys

text: The NYT investigative video report tracks the roles of Proud Boys throughout multiple video clips. It starts off with Joe Biggs directing the Proud Boys to blend in with others, he said "...we are going to go incognito...". and later explains that "Proud Boy leaders crafted a chain of command specifically for Jan. 6". Many of the Proud Boys also "worked as teams" and "Telegram messages from that morning show that some of the Proud Boys intend to rile up other protesters," with one thread having this exchange between Proud Boy members:


title: Proud Boys

text: January 6 testimony by Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards described the first breach after the Proud Boys arrived.


title: Proud Boys

text: The Capitol Hill police were vastly outnumbered: "...the mob on the west side eventually grew to at least 9,400 people, outnumbering officers by more than 58 to one." Video shown during the January 6th committee hearings show Officer Edwards being pushed back behind a bicycle rack as Proud Boys push barricades towards her, knocking her off her feet and causing her to hit her head on the concrete steps.


title: Proud Boys

text: Later, as the attack progressed, the Proud Boys were stalled by Capitol officers on the west side. The NYT video investigation shows how Proud Boys' leaders fell back, assessed the situation for about fifteen minutes, and then redirected their attack to weaker points. The redirected effort focused on the east side and a scaffolding leading up to building entrances. The protesters on the east side, led by the Proud Boys, now easily overran the police in the plaza. On the west side, after about a twenty-minute battle on the scaffolding steps, the Proud Boys broke through the resistance and rushed up the steps of the Capitol. One of the first breaches of the Capitol was by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola breaking in a window using a stolen police shield.


title: Proud Boys

text: The Times report "...found a pattern in how the Proud Boys moved on the ground". As in this example, "Over and over, at key moments when the Capitol was breached, the group used the same set of tactics: identifying access points to the building, riling up other protesters and sometimes directly joining in the violence. When met with resistance, leaders of the group reassessed, and teams of Proud Boys targeted new entry points to the Capitol."


title: Proud Boys

text: Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the United States House Homeland Security Committee, filed a federal lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and Proud Boys International LLC. The lawsuit alleges that the events at the Capitol on January6 violated the Third Enforcement Act of 1871. The chairman of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, called the lawsuit "frivolous".


title: Proud Boys

text: "The New York Times" reported in March 2021 that the incident had caused Proud Boys and other far-right groups to splinter amid disagreements on whether the attack had gone too far or was a success, and doubts about the leadership of their organizations, raising concerns of increasing numbers of lone wolf actors who would be more difficult to monitor and might pursue more extreme actions.


title: Proud Boys

text: The "Times" also reported that the FBI was investigating communications between an unnamed associate of the White House and an unnamed member of Proud Boys during the days prior to the incursion. The communications had been detected by examining cellphone metadata and were separate from previously known contacts between Roger Stone and Proud Boys.


title: Proud Boys

text: Citing private Facebook messages, prosecutors alleged in a March 2021 court filing that during the weeks preceding the attack, Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs had contacted Proud Boys who he said could serve as a "force multiplier" and that he had "organized an alliance" among the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and the Florida chapter of the Three Percenters. A US district court in Portland also charged two Oregon brothers who are members of the group with the federal crimes of violence and terrorism for actions related to the attack at the capitol.


title: Proud Boys

text: Federal judge Royce Lamberth declined to release Proud Boys member Christopher Worrell prior to his trial, citing Facebook posts he had made threatening retribution against who he believed "ratted" him out to the FBI.


title: Proud Boys

text: The Justice Department announced on February 3, 2021, that two Proud Boys members had been indicted for conspiracy. Five more individuals affiliated with the Proud Boys were charged with conspiracy on February 11, followed by six more on February 26. Federal grand jury conspiracy indictments of others followed. Federal prosecutors considered pursuing charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, typically used to prosecute organized crime syndicates.


title: Proud Boys

text: On November 23, 2021, Tarrio and Proud Boys International LLC were subpoenaed by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. The committee's belief was that members of the organization have information about the preparations of the event, and what led to the ensuing violence.


title: Proud Boys

text: In December, a federal judge rejected an argument made by four Proud Boys members that their participation in the attack could be considered a protected First Amendment demonstration.


title: Proud Boys

text: On June 6, 2022, the Justice Department announced that Enrique Tarrio, Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola had been indicted for "seditious conspiracy," a charge to be added to their February 2021 indictments of obstructing the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Ten Oath Keepers had also previously been charged with seditious conspiracy.


title: Proud Boys

text: More individuals with ties to the Proud Boys were charged with other offenses related to the Capitol attack such as Dominic Pezzola, who broke a U.S. Capitol window with a police shield to enter the building and William Pepe, a DC Metro Transit employee who took sick leave to attend the Jan. 6 rally.


title: Proud Boys

text: The trial, originally scheduled for August 8, was rescheduled for December because neither the prosecutors nor the defendants' counsel expected to have access to relevant interview transcripts until the January 6 House committee released its final report. (The committee had said it did not want to share its witness testimony with the Justice Department until it had completed its own work.) Lacking access to the House committee's interview transcripts, two defendants had motioned to reschedule the August trial, and the government had consented as long as all five defendants would be tried together in December.


title: Proud Boys

text: On October 6, 2022, Jeremy Bertino pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and firearms possession charges. Bertino, a leader in the Proud Boys, was described as a "lieutenant" to Enrique Tarrio. Prosecutors said they would recommend leniency at sentencing if Bertino fully cooperated in the case against other Proud Boys leaders.


title: Proud Boys

text: Following the 2021 Capitol attack, Enrique Tarrio was discovered to have been an informant to both federal and local law enforcement between 2012 and 2014. The Proud Boys of Alabama officially stated on Telegram regarding Tarrio, "We reject and disavow the proven federal informant, Enrique Tarrio, and any and all chapters that choose to associate with him."


title: Proud Boys

text: On August 23, 2021, the Proud Boys held a rally in Portland, Oregon, where they clashed with antifa counter-demonstrators. Alan Swinney, a Proud Boy from Texas, attended the George Floyd march in Portland, Oregon where he “calmly and dispassionately used or threatened force” by spraying marchers with mace, shooting random people with a paint ball gun, (causing one marcher to lose an eye) and threatening others with a loaded gun. He was found guilty of attempted assault, second-degree unlawful use of mace, and pointing a firearm and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.


title: Proud Boys

text: On June 12, 2022, a group identified as Proud Boys by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office stormed a children's Drag Queen Story Time event at the San Lorenzo Library. Members were reportedly "extremely aggressive" and "totally freaked out the kids," shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs during the children's event. The Sheriff's office was investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.


title: Proud Boys

text: In late November 2018, an internal memo from the Clark County Sheriff's Office showed that the FBI had designated the Proud Boys an extremist group, but it later clarified that only certain members were extremist threats with ties to white nationalism.


title: Proud Boys

text: In 2019, the 22-page "Violent Extremism in Colorado: a Reference Guide for Law Enforcement" from the Colorado Information Analysis Center (the state's version of the DHS) and the Colorado Department of Public Safety was released, with the organizations discussing the Proud Boys under the "White Supremacist Extremism" heading. In coverage from "The Guardian", it was reported that member organizations of the national network of counter-terrorist centers had issued warnings about the Proud Boys. Calling Proud Boys a "threat to Colorado", the guide related them to neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division and how violent clashes in 2018 with the Rocky Mountain Antifa ended in the arrest of two members of the Proud Boys. Guidance about the Proud Boys in the report involved describing them as "a dangerous white supremacist group", as a white supremacist extremist threat, and with a "concern that white supremacist extremists will continue attacking members of the community who threaten their belief of Caucasian superiority".


title: Proud Boys

text: Also in 2019, the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) compiled a "Special Event Threat Assessment" of potential dangers to the Austin Pride Parade. The ARIC identified the Proud Boys as being associated with a "growing backlash against Pride Month" which has emerged in the form of the straight pride movement, noting that a June 2019 transgender pride event in Seattle, Washington was disrupted by the "alt-right Proud Boys organization".


title: Proud Boys

text: Bill Blair, Canada's minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, announced in January 2021 that Canada was considering designating the Proud Boys a terrorist organization.


title: Proud Boys

text: On January 25, 2021, the House of Commons of Canada unanimously passed a motion calling on the government "to use all available tools to address the proliferation of white supremacist and hate groups, starting with immediately designating the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity."


title: Proud Boys

text: On February 3, 2021, the Proud Boys were officially designated as a terrorist entity in Canada. Bill Blair, the Minister of Public Safety added 13 new groups (including four ideologically motivated violent extremist groups, Atomwaffen Division, the Base, the Russian Imperial Movement, and the Proud Boys) to the "Criminal Code" list of terrorist entities.


title: Proud Boys

text: Section 83.01() of the Canadian criminal code defines a terrorist entity as "a) an entity that has as one of its purposes or activities facilitating or carrying out any terrorist activity, or b) a listed entity, and includes an association of such entities." A "listed entity" means an entity on a list established by the Governor in Council under section 83.05. The Cabinet of Canada can list an entity on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness if the Governor in Council is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that (a) the entity has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity; or (b) the entity has knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with an entity referred to in paragraph (a).


title: Proud Boys

text: Under section 83 of the Criminal Code, it is an indictable offence to provide use or possess property for terrorist purposes. As a result of the listing, no person in Canada or Canadian outside Canada can knowingly deal with the property, provide financial services or facilitate any transaction for the group. Financial institutions cannot process payments or offer loans to known members, and are required to report property or transactions to regulators. The listing does not mean the group is banned or that membership is a crime. Membership of the Proud Boys is not criminalized. Providing property or financial services to a listed entity is a crime, which makes paying membership dues to the group a terrorism offence in Canada. Purchasing Proud Boys merchandise could be a criminal act, and travel restrictions may apply to people associated with the group. Additionally, participation and contribution where the purpose of this participation is to enhance the latter's ability to facilitate or carry out a terrorist activity is also criminalized. Such behavior includes recruitment of trainees, crossing an international border, and providing or offering to provide skill or expertise.


title: Proud Boys

text: Proud Boys Canada announced that it was dissolving on May 2, 2021, and denied that it was a terrorist or white supremacy group. Analysts cautioned that the group may opt to rebrand within Canada and noted that one Proud Boys chapter based in Hamilton, Ontario started to use the name "Canada First".


title: Proud Boys

text: In late June 2022, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern designated the Proud Boys and another far right group called The Base as terrorist organisations. As a result of the terror designation, anyone with property or financial dealings with these organisations face prosecution and up to seven years imprisonment under the Terrorism Suppression Act.


title: Proud Boys

text: Although he had supposedly cut his ties with the Proud Boys by November 2018, stepping down as chairman, McInnes filed a defamation lawsuit in February 2019 against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in federal court in Alabama over the SPLC's designation of the Proud Boys as a "general hate" group. The SPLC took the lawsuit "as a compliment" and an indication that "we're doing our job." On its website, the SPLC said that "McInnes plays a duplicitous rhetorical game: rejecting white nationalism and, in particular, the term 'alt-right' while espousing some of its central tenets" and that the group's "rank-and-file [members] and leaders regularly spout white nationalist memes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric. Proud Boys have appeared alongside other hate groups at extremist gatherings like the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville." McInnes is represented by Ronald Coleman. In addition to defamation, McInnes claimed tortious interference with economic advantage, "false light invasion of privacy" and "aiding and abetting employment discrimination." The day after filing the suit, McInnes announced that he had been re-hired by the Canadian far-right media group The Rebel Media. The SPLC filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in April 2019.


title: Proud Boys

text: On May 17, 2019, Bill Burke of Ohio filed a $3million lawsuit against the Proud Boys, Kessler, and multiple other people and groups associated with the Unite the Right rally. Burke was seriously injured in the August 2017 Charlottesville car attack which followed the event. The 64-page initial complaint alleges that the named parties "conspired to plan, promote and carry out the violent events in Charlottesville". According to Burke, his physical and mental injuries have led to "severe psychological and emotional suffering".


title: Proud Boys

text: In 2017, Kyle Chapman, nicknamed "Based Stickman" after the 2017 Berkeley protests, formed a paramilitary wing of the Proud Boys called the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights (FOAK). Alt-right figure Augustus Sol Invictus acted as FOAK's second-in-command until he left the group.


title: Proud Boys

text: Following the attack on the United States Capitol, the Ottawa and Manitoba chapters shut down. On May 2, 2021, Proud Boys Canada announced on the Proud Boys USA channel on Telegram that it has "officially dissolved".


title: Proud Boys

text: Members of the Proud Boys can be identified by their use of black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts, American flags, MAGA hats, and military armor. Members often carry guns. An ironic catchphrase used by Proud Boys is "uhuru", which means 'freedom' in the Swahili language.


title: Proud Boys

text: During the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, the Proud Boys shifted to wearing blaze orange hats and all-black attire.


title: Proud Boys

text: Since the early days of the group, Proud Boys have worn black and yellow polo shirts of the British clothing brand Fred Perry on McInnes' suggestion. The brand, having previously been negatively associated with skinheads and the British National Front in the 1970s, issued several public statements distancing themselves from the beliefs of the Proud Boys, and calling on members to stop wearing their clothing.


title: Proud Boys

text: In 2017, Fred Perry's CEO John Flynn denounced the affiliation with the Proud Boys in a statement to CBC Radio, saying: "We don't support the ideals or the group that you speak of. It is counter to our beliefs and the people we work with." The shirts have not been sold in the United States since September 2019. In September 2020, the retailer announced that it will not sell them in the United States until association with Proud Boys has ended.


title: Proud Boys

text: Proud Boys commonly wear red MAGA hats to rallies, often alongside Fred Perry black and yellow polo shirts.


title: Proud Boys

text: "6MWE" is an antisemitic slogan that appears on some apparel associated with the Proud Boys. It is an acronym that means "6million wasn't enough", referring to the number of Jewish Holocaust victims. The slogan may appear together with symbols of the Italian Social Republic, the Fascist government of Italy supported by Nazi Germany.


title: Proud Boys

text: On a January 7, 2021 episode of MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell", the anchor condemned the rioters who stormed the Capitol while wearing antisemitic clothing, including one rioter who supposedly participated in the attack while wearing a shirt with the 6MWE slogan on it. However, a fact check done by "The Forward" found that the photo of the rioter with the slogan on his shirt had been taken at an earlier Proud Boys gathering at the Capitol in December 2020.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A 12-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Pierrot, aired on Tokyo MX from July to September 2014. A 12-episode second season, titled "Tokyo Ghoul √A" (pronounced "Tokyo Ghoul Root A"), which follows an original story, aired from January to March 2015. A live-action film based on the manga was released in Japan in July 2017, with a sequel being released in July 2019. An anime adaptation based on the sequel manga, "Tokyo Ghoul:re", aired for two seasons; the first from April to June 2018, and the second from October to December 2018. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga for English language release, while Funimation has licensed the anime series for streaming and home video distribution.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: As of January 2021, "Tokyo Ghoul" had over 47 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: "Tokyo Ghoul" is set in an alternate reality where ghouls, creatures that look like normal people but can only survive by eating human flesh, live among the human population in secrecy, hiding their true nature in order to evade pursuit from the authorities. Ghouls have powers including enhanced strength and regenerative abilities - a regular ghoul produces 4–7 times more kinetic energy in their muscles than a normal human; they also have several times the RC cells, a cell that flows like blood and can become solid instantly. A ghoul's skin is resistant to ordinary piercing weapons, and it has at least one special predatory organ called a , which it can manifest and use as a weapon during combat. Another distinctive trait of ghouls is that when they are excited or hungry, the color of their sclera in both eyes turns black and their irises red. This mutation is known as .


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A half-ghoul can either be born naturally as a ghoul and a human's offspring, or artificially created by transplanting some ghoul organs into a human. In both cases, a half-ghoul is usually much stronger than a pure-blood ghoul. In the case of a half-ghoul, only one of the eyes undergoes the "red eye" transformation. Natural born half-ghouls are very rare, and creating half-ghouls artificially initially has a low success rate. There is also the case of half-humans, hybrids of ghouls and humans that can feed like normal humans and lack a Kagune while possessing enhanced abilities, like increased speed and reaction speed, but shortened lifespans. Naturally born half-ghouls can also eat like normal humans or full ghouls.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: The story follows Ken Kaneki, a student who barely survives a deadly encounter with Rize Kamishiro, his date who reveals herself as a ghoul and tries to eat him. He is taken to the hospital in critical condition. After recovering, Kaneki discovers that he underwent a surgery that transformed him into a half-ghoul. This was accomplished because some of Rize's organs were transferred into his body, and now, like normal ghouls, he must consume human flesh to survive. Ghouls who run a coffee shop called "Anteiku" (あんていく) take him in and teach him to deal with his new life as a half-ghoul. Some of his daily struggles include fitting into the ghoul society, as well as keeping his identity hidden from his human companions, especially from his best friend, Hideyoshi Nagachika.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: The prequel series "Tokyo Ghoul [Jack]" follows the youths of Kishō Arima and Taishi Fura, two characters from the main series who become acquainted when they join forces to investigate the death of Taishi's friend at the hands of a ghoul, leading to Taishi eventually following Arima's path and joining the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul), the federal agency tasked into dealing with crimes related to ghouls as well.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: The sequel series "Tokyo Ghoul:re" follows an amnesiac Kaneki under the new identity of Haise Sasaki (the result of horrific brain damage sustained from Kishō Arima). He is the mentor of a special team of CCG investigators called "Quinx Squad" that underwent a similar procedure as his, allowing them to obtain the special abilities of Ghouls in order to fight them but still being able to live as normal humans.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: "Tokyo Ghoul" is written and illustrated by Sui Ishida. It began serialization in 2011's 41st issue of the "seinen" manga magazine "Weekly Young Jump", published by Shueisha on September 8, 2011, and the final chapter appeared in 2014's 42nd issue, released on September 18, 2014. The series has been collected in fourteen "tankōbon" volumes, released under Shueisha's Young Jump Comics imprint between February 17, 2012, and October 17, 2014. The series has been licensed for an English release by Viz Media and the first volume was released on June 16, 2015.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: In 2013, a prequel spin-off manga titled "Tokyo Ghoul [Jack]" was released on "Jump Live" digital manga. The story spans 7 chapters and focuses on Arima Kishō and Taishi Fura 12 years before the events of "Tokyo Ghoul". The manga features several characters from the main series including the above stated Kishō Arima, Taishi Fura, and future key characters Itsuki Marude and Yakumo "Yamori" Ōmori. It was compiled into a "tankōbon" volume published digitally by Shueisha on October 18, 2013.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: On October 17, 2014, a full-color illustration book known as "Tokyo Ghoul Zakki" was released along with the 14th and final volume of the manga. Zakki includes all promotional images, Volume covers and unreleased concept art with commentary by the creator Sui Ishida.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A sequel titled "Tokyo Ghoul:re" began serialization in 2014's 46th issue of "Weekly Young Jump", published on October 16, 2014. The series is set 2 years after the end of the original series and introduces a new set of characters. This series was concluded on July 19, 2018, with Volume 16.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: Four light novels have been released thus far and all are written by Shin Towada, with illustrations done by series creator Sui Ishida. On June 19, 2013, was released, Illustrations were done by the series creator Sui Ishida and written by Shin Towada and serves as sidestory/spin off that focuses on the daily lives of characters from the "Tokyo Ghoul" series. was released on June 19, 2014, and fills in the 6 month time gap between volumes 8 and 9 of the first series.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: The third novel was released on December 19, 2014. Past takes place before the events of the main series and focuses on the further backstory of certain "Tokyo Ghoul" characters, including Touka Kirishima, Ayato Kirishima, and series protagonist Ken Kaneki. The fourth novel, was released on December 19, 2016. It takes place during the events of "Tokyo Ghoul :re", focusing on the Quinx, CCG, and other characters.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by Pierrot aired on Tokyo MX between July 4 and September 19, 2014. It also aired on TV Aichi, TVQ, TVO, AT-X, and Dlife. The opening theme song is "Unravel" by TK from Ling tosite Sigure and the ending theme is by People in the Box. Funimation has licensed the anime series in North America. A second season, titled "Tokyo Ghoul √A" (read as "Root A"), aired in Japan between January 9 and March 27, 2015. The opening theme song is by Österreich, while the ending theme is by Amazarashi. "Glassy Sky" ("Glassy sky above, As long as I'm alive, you will be a part of me") is an insert song in this season, which is a first English song written by Yutaka Yamada in Tokyo Ghoul. On March 10, 2017, it was announced that the anime will premiere on Adult Swim's Saturday late-night action programming block, Toonami starting on March 25. Madman Entertainment announced that they had licensed the series in Australia and New Zealand, and simulcasted it on AnimeLab. Anime Limited licensed the series in the UK and Ireland, and later announced during MCM London Comic-Con that the series will be broadcast on Viceland UK.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: An anime adaptation for "Tokyo Ghoul:re" was announced on October 5, 2017, and started airing on April 3, 2018. Toshinori Watanabe replaced Shuhei Morita as the director, while Chūji Mikasano returned to write scripts. Pierrot produced the animation, while Pierrot+ is credited for animation assistance. Atsuko Nakajima replaced Kazuhiro Miwa as the character designer. The opening theme of the first season is "Asphyxia" by Cö shu Nie and the ending theme is "Half" by Queen Bee. The series aired in two seasons, with the first 12 episodes airing from April 3 to June 19, 2018, and the second season airing from October 9 to December 25, 2018. The opening theme of the second season is "Katharsis" by TK from Ling tosite Sigure, and the ending theme of the second season is by Österreich.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A video game titled "Tokyo Ghoul: Carnaval ∫ Color" by Bandai Namco Games was released in Japan for Android smartphones on February 6, 2015, and on February 9 for iOS. The player builds a team from a number of ghoul and investigator characters and explores a 3D map. Another video game titled "Tokyo Ghoul: Jail" for the PlayStation Vita console was released on October 1, 2015. It is set to introduce a new protagonist by the name of Rio, who will interact with characters from the manga/anime. The game was developed by Bandai Namco Games as well and is categorized as an adventure RPG where players will be able to explore Tokyo's 23 wards. The mobile game "Tokyo Ghoul: Dark War" focuses on the conflict between ghouls and the CCG that terrorizes the city of Tokyo. In the June 2018 edition of "V-Jump" it was revealed that a new game, titled "", was released in 2019.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: A live-action film based on the manga was released in Japan on July 29, 2017. Kentarō Hagiwara directed the film. The cast included Masataka Kubota for the role of protagonist Ken Kaneki and Fumika Shimizu for the role of Touka Kirishima. Yū Aoi was cast as Rize Kamishiro, Nobuyuki Suzuki played Kotaro Amon and Yo Oizumi played Kureo Mado. A sequel film titled "Tokyo Ghoul S" was released in Japan on July 19, 2019, with Maika Yamamoto replacing Fumika Shimizu as Touka Kirishima, and Shota Matsuda joining the cast as Shuu Tsukiyama.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: "Tokyo Ghoul" was nominated for the 38th Kodansha Manga Award in 2014. "Tokyo Ghoul" was chosen as one of the Best Manga at the Comic-Con International Best & Worst Manga of 2016. The Young Adult Library Services Association in the United States named the series one of its "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" and "Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults" in 2017. In 2018, it was nominated for the 30th Harvey Award for Best Manga. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, "Tokyo Ghoul" ranked 41st.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: "Tokyo Ghoul" was the 27th best-selling manga series in Japan in 2013, with 1.6 million estimated sales. As of January 2014, the manga had sold around 2.6 million copies. It was the fourth best-selling manga series in Japan in 2014, with 6.9 million copies sold. The whole original series sold over 12 million copies. The sequel series, "Tokyo Ghoul:re" sold over 3.7 million copies in Japan during its debut year in 2015, and 4.3 million copies in 2016. It was the fifth best-selling manga series in 2017 with sales of over 5.3 million copies. It was the tenth best-selling manga series in 2018 with 3.2 million copies sold. Both series combined for over 24 million copies in circulation by June 2017, and they had 34 million copies in print worldwide as of January 2018. As of July 2018, both manga had 37 million in print. From December 2017 to December 2018, the franchise sold 2.3 billion yen, and was ranked at 16th place as one of the top-selling media franchises in Japan. As of March 3, 2019, both manga had 44 million copies in print. As of January 21, 2021, both manga had over 47 million copies in print.


title: Tokyo Ghoul

text: On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed "Tokyo Ghoul √A" among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China. In February 2021, it was reported that the series, along with "Death Note" and "Inuyashiki", was banned from distribution on two unspecified websites in Russia.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from 2019 to 2022, Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency from February to September 2022 and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, Rees-Mogg previously chaired the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) from 2018 to 2019 and has been associated with socially conservative views.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was born in Hammersmith, London. He was educated at Westminster Under School, Eton College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he read history and was president of Oxford University Conservative Association. He went on to work in the City of London and in Hong Kong for Lloyd George Management until 2007, when he co-founded the hedge fund management business Somerset Capital Management LLP. He amassed a significant fortune: it was estimated at between £55 million and £150 million in 2016, including his wife's expected inheritance. Rees-Mogg unsuccessfully contested the 1997 and 2001 general elections before being elected as the MP for North East Somerset in 2010. He was reelected in 2015 and 2017, with an increased share of the vote each time, as well as in 2019, with a smaller share of the vote. Within the Conservative Party, he joined the traditionalist and socially conservative Cornerstone Group.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: During the premiership of David Cameron, Rees-Mogg was one of the Conservative Party's most rebellious MPs, opposing the Whip's office on a number of issues. He became known for filibustering. A Eurosceptic, he proposed an electoral pact between the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and campaigned for the UK to Leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. A member of the European Research Group (ERG), Rees-Mogg was elected its chairman in 2018. He attracted support for his opposition to the Chequers Agreement and Prime Minister Theresa May's proposed Brexit withdrawal agreement. He was promoted as a potential successor to May as Leader of the Conservative Party; he instead endorsed Boris Johnson in the 2019 leadership contest. Following Johnson's election as Conservative Leader and appointment as Prime Minister he appointed Rees-Mogg Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. In February 2022, Rees-Mogg was moved by Johnson to the role of Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency. After Johnson resigned in July 2022, Rees-Mogg supported Liz Truss's bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister, she appointed Rees-Mogg as Business Secretary. He resigned as Business Secretary shortly after Truss left office on 25 October 2022.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has been described as a conviction politician with anachronistic attitudes. Critics view him as a reactionary figure; his traditionalist attitudes have been characterised as obscuring controversial political views, some of which have made him the target of organised protests. His anachronistic style has led to Mogg being dubbed the "Honourable Member for the 18th century".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was born in Hammersmith, London, on 24 May 1969, the younger son of William Rees-Mogg (1928–2012), editor of "The Times" newspaper, created a life peer in 1988, and his wife Gillian Shakespeare Morris, formerly his secretary, daughter of Thomas Richard Morris, a lorry driver, car salesman, local government politician, and Conservative mayor of St Pancras in London. He is one of five children, having three elder siblings, Emma Beatrice Rees-Mogg (born 1962), Charlotte Louise Rees-Mogg (born 1964) and Thomas Fletcher Rees-Mogg (born 1966), and one younger sister, Annunziata Mary Rees-Mogg (born 1979).


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 1964 the family had purchased Ston Easton Park, a country house near the village of Ston Easton in Somerset, where Rees-Mogg grew up attending weekly mass and occasionally Sunday school at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost, Midsomer Norton. Here he started catechism in 1975 under his governess and attended mass in the ordinary form. A few years later, in 1978, the family moved to the nearby village of Hinton Blewett where they purchased The Old Rectory, a Grade II listed former rectory. Living in Somerset, he regularly travelled to his family's second home in Smith Square, London, where he attended prep school at the independent Westminster Under School.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Growing up, Rees-Mogg was primarily raised by the family's nanny Veronica Crook, whom he describes as a formative figure. Crook came to work for the family in 1965 to look after Rees-Mogg's older siblings, and later looked after Rees-Mogg's own children; in 2021 she had worked for the family for 56 years.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: When Rees-Mogg was ten, he was left £50 by a distant cousin, and his father, on his behalf, invested in shares in the now-defunct General Electric Company (GEC). Rees-Mogg said this event was the beginning of his interest in stock markets. Having learned how to read company reports and balance sheets, he later attended a shareholders' meeting at GEC, where he voted against a motion because dividends were too low. He subsequently invested in London-based conglomerate Lonrho, eventually owning 340 shares, and reportedly caused the company's chairman Lord Duncan-Sandys "discomfort" by quizzing him at an annual general meeting on the low dividends offered to shareholders. In 1981, at a shareholders' meeting of GEC, in which he owned 175 shares at the time, he told the chairman Lord Nelson that the dividend on offer was "pathetic", sparking amusement among board members and the media.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: After prep school, Rees-Mogg entered Eton College, where he was described in a school report as a "particularly dogmatic" Thatcherite. Upon leaving Eton, he had his portrait painted by Paul Branson RP for the Eton College Collections, which was later put on display during the "Faces of 1993" Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg read history at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated with an upper second-class honours degree in 1991. Almost immediately after arriving in 1988, he was nominated by "Cherwell" for the title of "Pushy Fresher", printing a photograph of open-mouthed Rees-Mogg in a suit with the caption "What more need we say?". While at Oxford, he became president of the Oxford University Conservative Association with what "Cherwell" described as a "campaign for world domination and social adequacy". Rees-Mogg was a member and frequent debater at the Oxford Union and elected Librarian, but Damian Hinds defeated him for president of the Union. Reflecting on his time at university, Rees-Mogg regretted not having studied Classics.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: After graduating from the University of Oxford in 1991, Rees-Mogg worked for J Rothschild Investment Management under Nils Taube before moving to Hong Kong in 1993 to join Lloyd George Management. During his tenure in Hong Kong, he became a close friend of Governor Chris Patten and was a regular at Government House. Three years later, he returned to London and was put in charge of some of the firm's emerging markets funds. By 2003, he was managing a newly established Lloyd George Emerging Markets Fund. In 2007, Rees-Mogg left the company with a number of colleagues to set up their own fund management firm, Somerset Capital Management, with the aid of hedge fund manager Crispin Odey. Following Rees-Mogg's election as the Member of Parliament for North East Somerset, he stepped down as chief executive of the company; however, he continues to receive income in his capacity as a partner.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg's wealth has been estimated to be in excess of £100 million when combined with his wife's expected inheritance, which has left him open to the criticism that he cannot understand the lives and concerns of many ordinary people.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2018, Somerset Capital opened an investment fund in Dublin in order to be legally able to continue to have European retail investors after Brexit. The new business prospectus listed Brexit as one of the risks, as it could cause "considerable uncertainty". Rees-Mogg remains a partner of the business but does not manage the funds or make investment decisions, stated: "The decision to launch the fund was nothing whatsoever to do with Brexit."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: When interviewed by Channel 4 in March 2019, Rees-Mogg declined to answer suggestions that their calculations showed that he could have earned £7 million in the period since the referendum.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In July 2019, Rees-Mogg resigned from his part-time role at Somerset Capital Management following his appointment as Leader of the House of Commons.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg first entered politics at the 1997 general election at which, aged 27, he was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Central Fife, a traditional Labour seat in Scotland. With an upper class background on his father's side set against a predominantly working-class electorate, and having been described as being "so posh, it's as if he has been transported in time from a previous century", he caused some bewilderment among locals by canvassing the area with his family's nanny and touring the constituency in a Bentley, a claim that he later described as "scurrilous", stating it had been a Mercedes. With a name recognition of less than 2%, Rees-Mogg managed to gain the third-highest number of votes on election night, earning 9% of all votes cast, a figure much lower than that of previous Conservative Party candidates for the area. However, no new Conservative MPs were elected in Scotland that year; the Conservative Party suffered its worst electoral defeat since 1906, and lost all its seats in Scotland.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 1999, when it was being rumoured that his "anachronistically posh" accent was working against his chances of being selected for a safe Conservative seat, Rees-Mogg was defended by letter writers to "The Daily Telegraph", one of whom claimed that "an overt form of intimidation exists, directed against anyone who dares to eschew the current, Americanised, mode of behaviour, speech and dress". Rees-Mogg himself stated (in "The Sunday Times", 23 May 1999) that "it is rather pathetic to fuss about accents too much", though he then went on to say that "John Prescott's accent certainly stereotypes him as an oaf", a comment which he later said he regretted and for which he apologised. He later said: "I gradually realised that whatever I happened to be speaking about, the number of voters in my favour dropped as soon as I opened my mouth."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was selected as the Conservative candidate for The Wrekin in Shropshire for the 2001 general election, but lost to the sitting Labour MP Peter Bradley who achieved a 0.95% swing to Labour against the national trend of a 3.5% swing to the Conservatives. From 2005 to 2008, he was the elected Chairman of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2006, Rees-Mogg criticised efforts by then-Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron to increase the representation of ethnic minorities on the party candidate list, arguing that fulfilling quotas can often "make it harder for the intellectually able" and that "Ninety-five per cent of this country is White. The list can't be totally different from the country at large."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In March 2009, Rees-Mogg was forced to apologise to Trevor Kavanagh, the then political editor of "The Sun", after it was shown that a newsletter signed by Rees-Mogg had plagiarised sections of a Kavanagh article that had appeared in the newspaper over a month earlier.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In December 2009, a pamphlet which purported to show him talking to a local constituent and calling on the government to "show more honesty" was criticised after it emerged that the "constituent" was a London-based employee of his investment firm.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: He was one of the directors of the Catholic Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London who were ordered to resign by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor in February 2008 after protracted arguments over the adoption of a tighter ethical code banning non-Catholic practices such as abortions and gender reassignment surgery at the hospital.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was described by Camilla Long in a profile in "The Sunday Times" as "David Cameron's worst nightmare" during the 2010 general election campaign. At that election, Rees-Mogg became the new Member of Parliament for the new North East Somerset constituency, with a majority of 4,914 votes. His sister, journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg, stood simultaneously in neighbouring Somerton and Frome, but failed by 1,817 votes to win her seat. In "The Guardian", Ian Jack had claimed that the selection of two such highly privileged candidates had damaged the Conservative Party's message of social inclusion, and appeared to suggest that privileged candidates should be excluded.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2010 the ConservativeHome blog rated Rees-Mogg as one of the Conservatives' most rebellious MPs. He later voted against the government whip on the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, the October 2011 European Union Referendum Motion and the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In the House of Commons, Rees-Mogg gained a reputation for his humorous speeches and ability to filibuster. He helped filibuster the Daylight Saving Bill 2010–12 and the Sustainable Livestock Bill 2010–12, thus preventing their passage through Parliament. In his long speech on the Sustainable Livestock Bill, he recited poetry; spoke of the superior quality of Somerset eggs, and mentioned the Empress of Blandings, a fictional pig who won silver at the Shropshire County Show three years in a row, before moving on to talk about the sewerage system and the Battle of Agincourt. He also jokingly attempted to amend the Daylight Saving Bill to give the county of Somerset its own time zone, fifteen minutes behind London.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In a December 2011 debate on London Local Authorities Bill, he said that council officials with the power to issue on-the-spot fines should be made to wear bowler hats. In February 2012, he used the word "floccinaucinihilipilification"—meaning "the habit of considering as worthless"—during a parliamentary debate; it was noted as the longest word then uttered on the floor of the House of Commons.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In May 2013, he addressed the annual dinner held by the Traditional Britain Group, a far-right group that calls for non-white Britons to be deported. Rees-Mogg had been informed as to the nature of the group by anti-fascist group "Searchlight" prior to his attendance. After the dinner, he informed the press that although he had been informed of the group's views, he had "never been a member or supporter" of them.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In January 2014, he dismissed the sum of £250,000 spent on MPs' portraits as trivial by saying "I'm all for saving money, saving money right, left and centre, but this is chicken feed". In December 2014, Rees-Mogg was reported to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority for speaking in debates on tobacco, mining, and oil and gas without first verbally declaring he was a founding partner and director of Somerset Capital, which manages multimillion-pound investments in these sectors. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson, decided that no wrongdoing had been committed and thus no investigation would take place.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: According to "The Daily Telegraph", Rees-Mogg's extra-parliamentary work took up 476 hours, or 9 hours per week, in 2014.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: After Cameron resigned in the wake of the referendum result, the Conservatives had a leadership election in which Rees-Mogg initially supported Boris Johnson. After Johnson chose not to run, Rees-Mogg endorsed Michael Gove and after Gove was eliminated he backed Andrea Leadsom. Leadsom then withdrew, allowing Theresa May to become Conservative leader and Prime Minister.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg supported the then-Republican Party nominee Donald Trump during 2016 U.S. presidential election. In October 2016, when the Donald Trump "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced, he distanced himself from Trump's Twitter messages, saying that Twitter was "fundamentally trivial". In May 2018 he wrote an article for "The Times" titled 'Trump Will Be Our Greatest Ally After Brexit', saying that he "appealed to voters left behind by the metropolitan elite and he exudes confidence about his own nation and a determination not to be a manager of decline, which also inspires the Brexiteers".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In November 2017, Rees-Mogg met Trump's former White House Chief Strategist and "Breitbart News"' executive chairman Steve Bannon to discuss how right-wing movements can succeed in the United Kingdom and the United States. Rees-Mogg later defended the meeting when asked about it in an interview, stating, "I've talked to any number of people whose political views I do not share or fully endorse. ... Inevitably politicians meet other politicians. Mr Bannon was the chief of staff to President Trump and is a senior figure in the Republican Party."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2017, he supported the confidence and supply agreement made between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). He later addressed a DUP fundraising event, drawing criticism from the Northern Ireland Conservatives.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was widely regarded as a potential candidate for the leadership of his party, something he was reportedly considering during 2017. On 13 August 2017, however, Rees-Mogg said that such speculation was "part of media's silly season". Two Conservative MPs, Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry, announced that they would leave the party if he became leader; another, Justine Greening, suggested she could do the same. However, other Conservative MPs, such as Jesse Norman, and Daniel Kawczynski have expressed support for a prospective Rees-Mogg leadership bid. Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage also backed a potential Rees-Mogg candidacy.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Following the 2017 general election, calls were made for Theresa May to step down as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party after failing to win an overall majority in the House of Commons. This led news outlets to begin speculating on May's possible successor with Boris Johnson touted as the bookmakers' favourite and Rees-Mogg being given 50/1 odds. A day after the election on 9 June, an online petition, titled "Ready for Rees-Mogg", was set up urging Rees-Mogg to run for leader of the Conservative Party. Hoping to mirror the success of pro-Corbyn activist group Momentum, a 'play on words' hashtag of Moggmentum was created. By 8 July 2017, the campaign had attracted over 13,000 signatures and raised £2,000 in donations with leadership odds being cut to 16/1, making him second favourite behind David Davis. On 14 August, co-founder of "Ready for Rees-Mogg" Sam Frost announced the petition had gathered 22,000 registered supporters, 700 volunteers and £7,000 in donations, despite Rees-Mogg having said a day earlier that such speculation was "part of media's silly season" and that "no-body serious" believed he was a candidate. On 5 September 2017, a poll conducted by ConservativeHome put Rees-Mogg as the favourite for next leader, with 23% of the votes based on 1,309 people surveyed.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: He was elected chair of the European Research Group, a Eurosceptic pressure group within the Conservative Party, in January 2018. A report in "The Independent" suggested that this position provided him with the immediate support of around 50 Conservative MPs, a sufficient number to trigger a leadership contest. Since then, Rees-Mogg directly criticised the leadership of May and chancellor Philip Hammond, fuelling more rumours that he was planning to stand for the leadership but reiterated he had no intention of doing so. In February, a speech that Rees-Mogg was giving at the University of the West of England was disrupted when left wing protesters accused him of being a racist and a bigot; violence broke out between the protesters and Mogg's supporters.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: A supporter of "hard Brexit" (although he prefers the term "clean Brexit"), Rees-Mogg was highly critical of the government's handling of the Brexit negotiations, in particular Theresa May's "Chequers deal", calling it "staying in the EU without a vote":


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: He supported a "Canada-plus" deal as a compromise; this would allow for tariff-free trade, without the UK remaining in the single market or the customs union.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2018, as part of a "Sunday Times" investigation into online abuse following controversial comments made by Boris Johnson regarding the niqab and media attention regarding alleged Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, it was reported that a number of Facebook groups supportive of Rees-Mogg and Johnson (some of which included Conservative councillors and officials) were leaving "widespread" Islamophobic and racist comments on Johnson's Facebook page. In response, Rees-Mogg said he was supporting a private member's bill put forward by Labour MP Lucy Powell to regulate social media, and added "people who have these types of views should take no solace in using [Johnson's] comments as an excuse to take this approach". Rees-Mogg defended Johnson against accusations of Islamophobia and criticised the party for initiating disciplinary action against Johnson – in order, Rees-Mogg said, to weaken Johnson politically – calling it a "low-grade abuse of power" as well as a "show trial" and a "witch hunt".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: On 15 November 2018, Rees-Mogg implied that he might submit a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister over her draft Brexit proposal. Later that day, he submitted such a letter to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs and told reporters "What Theresa May says and does no longer match" but added, "this is nothing to do with personal ambition". Following May's announcement that she would call off the House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal due to widespread dislike of the deal, Rees-Mogg made a statement saying: "What has two years of Theresa May doing Brexit amounted to? An undeliverable deal Parliament would roundly reject, if the prime minister has the gumption to allow it to go before the House of Commons. This is not governing, it risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into government by failing to deliver Brexit. We cannot continue like this. The prime minister must either govern or quit." In November 2018, Rees-Mogg suggested the party elect Boris Johnson as its new leader.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was described as the leading figure within the unsuccessful effort for a vote of no confidence in Theresa May as party leader by the parliamentary Conservative Party on 12 December. Despite losing the vote, Rees-Mogg continued his calls for May to resign as leader the following day, stating that the Prime Minister had "clearly lost the support of the back benches of the Conservative Party". Rees-Mogg received criticism for his role in this effort from junior minister Tobias Ellwood, who called his actions "destructive", "divisive" and "selfish". On 18 December, Rees-Mogg said: "Under Tory party rules the prime minister won, that is a mandate for the next year. I therefore fully support her, I lost the vote last week." He later voted against the Labour Party's motion of no confidence on 16 January 2019, having stated earlier that day on "Politics Live" that he would support the Prime Minister.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg said on 22 February 2019 that he opposed Home Secretary Sajid Javid's decision to revoke the UK citizenship of Shamima Begum, one of the Bethnal Green trio, as she was eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship. On his Friday night show on LBC, he stated that he thought that "there is a fundamental equality in British citizens and if you can't take [his] passport away, then you shouldn't be able to take it away from anybody else" and argued that "Why on earth should Bangladeshis pick up a problem that's essentially our problem. We're trying to put our litter in our neighbour's garden."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg endorsed Boris Johnson to become leader of the Conservative Party following the resignation of Theresa May. Following Johnson's election as leader on 23 July 2019 and appointment as Prime Minister the next day, Rees-Mogg was appointed Leader of the House of Commons, replacing Mel Stride. He also became Lord President of the Council and attended cabinet meetings in the Johnson government. This was the first time that Rees-Mogg either served in a government role or the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: On 3 September, Rees-Mogg became subject of criticism by fellow MPs after a picture of him reclining on the bench of House of Commons during a debate about the Brexit was published in the media. Rees-Mogg was accused of being contemptuous. Also in September 2019 he apologised after comparing neurologist David Nicholl, who was involved in the government's Operation Yellowhammer report, to discredited anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield. Rees-Mogg has supported a vaccine against coronavirus and has called anti-vaxxers "nutters".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: During the 2019 general election, Rees-Mogg was criticised after an interview with LBC's Nick Ferrari during which he said it would have been "common sense" for residents to flee the Grenfell Tower fire, ignoring fire brigade advice to stay put. Several hours later, Rees-Mogg said he "profoundly apologised" for his comments. Rees-Mogg subsequently made fewer media appearances throughout the rest of the election campaign (in which the Conservatives ultimately won), fuelling speculation in the media that he was under orders from Downing Street to keep a low profile as a result of the Ferrari interview, which was supposedly perceived as damaging to the party. Later in the campaign, in an interview with Boris Johnson, Ferrari asked Johnson: "Where is Moggy? [...] I don't see him anywhere." Johnson responded that Rees-Mogg was campaigning actively around the country.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2020 Rees-Mogg accused UNICEF of a political stunt after it announced for the first time in its 70-year history it would be providing food parcels to children in deprived areas of London prior to Christmas. Rees-Mogg said that UNICEF were "playing politics when it is meant to be looking after people in the poorest, the most deprived countries in the world, where people are starving, where there are famines and where there are civil wars." Rees-Mogg was branded "Scrooge" by Labour MP Neil Coyle, whose constituency Bermondsey and Old Southwark is one of the affected areas. In his comments, Rees-Mogg stated the charity was "faffing around in England" and "Unicef should be ashamed of itself".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In January 2021 Rees-Mogg broke government coronavirus guidance by travelling from his residence in the Tier 3 area of West Harptree to a church in the Tier 4 area of Glastonbury to attend a Latin Mass. The government's guidance was that people could worship in Tier 4 but were not permitted to travel between tiers. A spokesman for Rees-Mogg said that he "regularly attends the only old rite mass available in the Clifton diocese which meets his religious obligations." In October 2021 Rees-Mogg dismissed criticisms that Conservative MPs in the House of Commons should wear face masks. He said they knew each other and this meant they were acting in line with government COVID guidance.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has been criticised for calling Welsh a "foreign language". During a 2021 Commons debate, where Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts wished people "Happy St Patrick's Day" in Welsh and Irish, Rees-Mogg replied that "modest quotation in foreign languages is permissible" but not full speeches. Saville Roberts later pointed out that Welsh is not a foreign language and, historically, had been spoken for centuries before English in Britain.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In October 2021 Rees-Mogg said that the main cause of labour shortages in the UK was the effects of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic rather than Brexit. He said: "The lorry driver shortage is nothing to do with European labour movements. 89% of lorry drivers are UK born and bred in 2021, exactly the same level as in 2016." In January 2022 Rees-Mogg suggested that the forthcoming COVID Inquiry must look at whether COVID regulations had been proportionate or too onerous.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In February 2022 he was appointed Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In April 2022 he called for civil servants to return to working in their offices instead of working from home. He expressed concerns about low attendance rate and inefficiency. He was criticised by Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union for civil servants, for leaving notes at the empty desks of civil servants reading "I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon." Penman said the note was "crass and insulting, and undermined civil service leadership."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In July 2022, following the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis, Rees-Mogg considered entering the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and thus Prime Minister, as a "pro-Boris" candidate. He later supported Liz Truss in the election.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 6 September 2022 by Prime Minister Liz Truss. Environmental groups expressed concern at his appointment due to his views on climate change and oversight over the UK's net zero targets. His previous office of Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency was abolished.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In October 2022, during the Conservative Party Conference, Rees-Mogg said that he would be "delighted" to allow fracking in his back garden.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: On 25 October 2022, Rees-Mogg resigned from the frontbench upon the appointment of Rishi Sunak as prime minister and returned to the backbenches.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg's political views have been described as High Tory, reactionary, traditionalist, nationalist, socially conservative, and right-wing populist, although he has rejected that description stating that he stands for "popular policies, not populist policies".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg's public statements on the European Union and referendum on membership have changed over time. In 2011, referring to the then proposed European Union membership referendum, Rees-Mogg suggested a process with two referendums, saying: "Indeed, we could have two referendums. As it happens, it might make more sense to have the second referendum after the renegotiation is completed." In his May 2012 lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies, in which he laid out his broad policy position on a range of issues, Rees-Mogg referred to the European Union saying: "I am not an advocate of withdrawal from it but instead I want a fundamental renegotiation of terms".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Writing in "The Daily Telegraph" in May 2013, the Eurosceptic Rees-Mogg asked whether it was time to make a "big open and comprehensive offer" to the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He said collaboration would be straightforward as policies were similar on "many issues" and most Conservatives would prefer Nigel Farage to Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister. His remarks angered his party leadership, while UKIP said it was against any formal arrangements. In January 2019, shortly after Farage left UKIP, Rees-Mogg expressed support for Farage potentially returning to the Conservative Party, stating, "personally I hold Nigel in the highest regard and think he was one of these people who was instrumental in delivering Brexit."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: As a vocal critic of the European Union, Rees-Mogg was a leading figure in the campaign for the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, appearing in a number of interviews to debate the topic. Speaking at the Oxford Union, he described the EU as a threat to British democracy and to the sovereignty of parliament citing various countries' rejection of the European Constitution which was later implemented via the Treaty of Lisbon. He later credited the DUP for having "saved" Brexit by torpedoing an agreement between the government and the EU. After meeting with a representative of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, he criticised the party for being insufficiently eurosceptic, stating that "German euroscepticism is milk to British euroscepticism's brandy."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In April 2019 Rees-Mogg was criticised online after he tweeted a video of a speech made by Alice Weidel, the co-leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, said Rees-Mogg was "promoting Germany's overtly racist party, AfD". Speaking later, Rees-Mogg said: "I'm not supporting the AfD. But this is a speech in the Bundestag of real importance because it shows a German view of Brexit." He replied to Lammy in a statement on LBC radio saying: "Once again, Mr Lammy's reputation for under-statement is reinforced"


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: UCL's modern Jewish history professor Michael Berkowitz accused Rees-Mogg of trafficking in antisemitic tropes when Rees-Mogg castigated his opponents in a Commons debate on 'no-deal' Brexit (specifically Oliver Letwin and John Bercow – both of whom are Jewish) as forming part of an "illuminati who are taking the powers to themselves". In October 2019, Rees-Mogg faced similar criticism from David Lammy when he suggested that George Soros was allegedly the "funder-in-chief" of the Remain campaign.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Counter to the Conservatives' U-turn on turning state schools into academies, Rees-Mogg is a proponent of academy-based education, reasoning that it gives schools more freedom from local education authorities to make decisions and cuts down on bureaucracy. While defending the list of Conservative candidates for the 2005 election, he said that it would be foolish to disbar candidates who attended Oxford and Cambridge Universities from selection. He stated: "We don't want to make it harder for intellectually able people to be Tory party candidates", saying that the country would not be best run by "potted plants".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In February 2018, police launched an investigation after Rees-Mogg was caught in the middle of an altercation at a university campus when left wing protesters disrupted a student event in Bristol. The non-platforming and interference received cross party condemnation with Jo Swinson, then Leader of the Liberal Democrats, tweeting that she was "deeply worried by the violence" and Labour MP Angela Rayner also tweeted saying that she "utterly condemned the behaviour" of those who tried to attack Rees-Mogg and that she found the tactics "intimidating".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has set out his views on environment and climate change in a number of public documents, articles and interviews. He is skeptical of the need to mitigate climate change, instead arguing for adaptation, and believes carbon neutrality targets increase energy prices.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2012, Rees-Mogg questioned the scientific consensus on climate change, claiming that the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on the climate "remains much debated". According to Fiona Harvey, Rees-Mogg has "many times voiced climate denialism – even to the extent of misrepresenting climate science", highlighting several times he had criticised the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Rees-Mogg was one of 100 MPs who wrote to David Cameron successfully pressurising the government to withdraw subsidies and change planning rules for onshore wind. Rees-Mogg is an investor in oil and coal mining through Somerset Capital Management, which he benefits from financially.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg blamed "climate alarmism" for rising energy prices in 2013, advocating the continued use of fossil fuels.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg suggested in 2017 that environmental regulations could be relaxed, stating: "We could say, if it's good enough in India, it's good enough for here. There's nothing to stop that. We could take it a very long way ... I accept that we're not going to allow dangerous toys to come in from China, we don't want to see those kind of risks. But there's a very long way you can go."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In October 2021, Rees-Mogg said that there was enough time for the UK to do its part to tackle climate change. He said the UK had 30 years to reach its target of net zero carbon emissions. He stated that parts used for solar energy had fallen in price over the last 20 years, making renewable energy more affordable. In April 2022, Rees-Mogg stated that "We need to be thinking about exploiting every last cubic inch of gas from the North Sea. We are not going for net zero tomorrow – 2050 is a long way off".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: While Rees-Mogg largely espouses free market economic views, he endorses a role for state intervention, having been influenced by both Robert Peel, an economic liberal, and Benjamin Disraeli, a protectionist. He believes that improving people's lives requires "some use of the powers that the government has".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2013, Rees-Mogg expressed support for zero-hour contracts, arguing that they benefit employees, including students, by providing flexibility and could provide a route into more permanent employment. He rejected criticism by Vince Cable and others that they were exploitative as "the standard response of the left". In September 2017, Rees-Mogg suggested that food banks fulfil a vital function, and proceeded to argue that "to have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens I think is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are". He went on to argue that "the real reason for the rise in numbers is that people know that they are there and Labour deliberately didn't tell them." During the same interview, Rees-Mogg conceded that people have "found life tough" but suggested the best way out of poverty was through employment.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2022, Rees-Mogg suggested that corporations should no longer have to report on the gender pay gap and the speed with which they pay their suppliers.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has taken a mixed approach to British involvement in the Syrian Civil War, denouncing a proposal to arm the Syrian rebels, but subsequently voting in favour of a failed proposal for British military action against the Bashar al-Assad regime in 2013. In October 2015, he argued that "The consequences of the efforts to undermine Assad have been the rise of terrorism and the mass movement of people."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: He voted in favour of British military action against the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014 and in Syria in 2015.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: He has described foreign aid as a "really wasteful approach to government spending", and in 2018 supported a campaign by the "Daily Express" to reduce Britain's foreign aid budget.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has previously voted for a stricter asylum system and a more controlled immigration policy in order to reduce net migration. According to Nigel Farage, Rees-Mogg believes a poster featuring the words "breaking point" overlaid on an image of columns of Syrian refugees entering Europe "won the referendum" for the Leave campaign. Rees-Mogg favours the end of free movement of people to the United Kingdom. He wants non-British EU citizens residing in the UK to be protected with "broadly the same rights as British citizens – no better or worse", and not have rights given to them retrospectively retracted.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In May 2018, Rees-Mogg criticised May's target of reducing immigration numbers to 100,000 per year as too low, describing it as "a number that was plucked out of the air" and as "pulling up the drawbridge", and said he was "very sympathetic" to removing student visas from official immigration numbers.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Regarding same-sex marriage, Rees-Mogg has stated that he is opposed to it and "not proud" of it being legal, and that it has alienated traditional supporters of the Conservative Party. In 2013, Rees-Mogg said that on the issue of same-sex marriage, he took his "whip from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church rather than the [Conservative] Whip's Office". He later elaborated that in his view "marriage is a sacrament and the decision of what is a sacrament lies with the Church, not with Parliament."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has said that he does not believe Britain's laws on same-sex marriage or abortion will change.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg is against abortion in all circumstances, stating: "life begins at the point of conception. He has described abortion as "a cult of death"and a "modern tragedy". With same-sex marriage, that is something that people are doing for themselves. With abortion, that is what people are doing to the unborn child." In September 2017, he expressed "a great sadness" on hearing about how online retailers had reduced pricing of emergency contraception. He directly profits from the sales of abortion pills through investments made by his investment company Somerset Capital Management. In October 2017, it was reported that Somerset Capital Management, of which Rees-Mogg was a partner, had invested £5m in Kalbe Farma, a company that produces and markets misoprostol pills designed to treat stomach ulcers but widely used in illegal abortions in Indonesia. Rees-Mogg defended the investment by arguing that the company in question "obeys Indonesian law so it's a legitimate investment and there's no hypocrisy. The law in Indonesia would satisfy the Vatican". Several days later, it was reported that the same company also held shares in FDC, a company that sold drugs used as part of legal abortions in India. Somerset Capital Management subsequently sold the shares it had held in FDC. Rees-Mogg said: "I am glad to say it's a stock that we no longer hold. I would not try to defend investing in companies that did things I believe are morally wrong".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg is opposed to capital punishment, and favours due process for British jihadists operating abroad.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg appeared on "The 11 O'Clock Show" in 1999, where he was interviewed by Ali G, who called him "Lord Rees-Mogg" and attempted to talk about social class.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In October 2017, Rees-Mogg presented talk radio station LBC's morning show for a day, where he discussed Brexit, foreign policy and the T-charge with callers, including Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable. Rees-Mogg was praised for his sense of charm and humour. He returned to present a Sunday show on LBC in February 2018.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has his own dedicated podcast known as 'The MoggCast', which, in association with ConservativeHome, features him discussing a wide array of current events on a fortnightly basis.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: On 15 July 2017, he joined Twitter, writing in Latin: "" ("the times change, and we change with them"). He also uses Instagram and other social media.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: According to an article in the "Evening Standard" in 2018, Rees-Mogg has generated controversy in the past through some of his "more extreme views". In 2017 the commentator Suzanne Moore compared Rees-Mogg to Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Donald Trump, suggesting that like them "he embodies the three things that many people require of modern politicians: a veneer of authenticity; an ability to cut through perceived liberal wisdom; and enormous privilege that is flaunted, rather than hidden." Moore was of the view that he uses his "religious faith" in an attempt to "excuse his appalling bigotry". Moore went on to describe him as "a thoroughly modern bigot" and to describe his political views as "verg[ing] on fascistic ... dressed up in tweed with a knowledge of the classics".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: Rees-Mogg has at various times both described himself as a "man of the people" and rejected that description, saying: "The 'man of the people' act is the height of condescension."


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2006 Rees-Mogg became engaged to Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair, a writer for a trade magazine and the only child of Somerset de Chair and his fourth wife Lady Juliet Tadgell. Rees-Mogg had first met de Chair, a close friend of his sister, when they were children, and they began dating the year before their engagement, after Rees-Mogg had gained the blessing of her mother. The couple were married at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, in 2007, in a ceremony at which the post-Vatican II Mass was celebrated in Latin.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In 2010 the couple purchased the Grade II* listed Gournay Court in West Harptree, where they live with their six children. The house is a former Red Cross hospital where Rees-Mogg's great aunt served as a volunteer nurse and the resident matron during the First World War.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: In July 2017 Rees-Mogg said: "I've made no pretence to be a modern man at all, ever" and commented that he had never changed a nappy, stating: "I don't think nanny would approve because I'm sure she'd think I wouldn't do it properly." In September 2017, Labour MP Harriet Harman said that "Men who don't change nappies are deadbeat dads – and that includes Jacob Rees-Mogg".


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: As a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Historic Vehicles, Rees-Mogg has an interest in historic cars. Aged 23, he purchased a 1968 T-Series Bentley previously owned by cricketer Gubby Allen. In 2005, Rees-Mogg added a 1936 3.5 Litre Bentley to his collection, and used a Lexus for everyday use. Rees-Mogg is a cricket enthusiast, and has supported Somerset County Cricket Club since his youth.


title: Jacob Rees-Mogg

text: When his father was appointed a life peer in 1988, he became entitled to the style of "The Honourable" as the son of a Baron. Upon appointment to the Privy Council on 25 July 2019 at Buckingham Palace he received the style of "The Right Honourable" for life.


title: Nuru (massage)

text: Nuru () is a form of erotic massage with full body contact while both the masseur or masseuse and an opposite-sex client are nude and coated with gel, traditionally made from seaweed.


title: Nuru (massage)

text: Because it entails lubricated full body contact between the person giving the massage and a client of the opposite sex with a "happy ending", usually after penetration, nuru massage falls under legal prohibitions against prostitution and brothels in many jurisdictions.


title: Billy Graham

text: William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and according to a biographer, was "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.


title: Billy Graham

text: Graham held large indoor and outdoor rallies with sermons that were broadcast on radio and television, with some still being re-broadcast into the 21st century. In his six decades on television, Graham hosted annual crusades, evangelistic campaigns that ran from 1947 until his retirement in 2005. He also hosted the radio show "Hour of Decision" from 1950 to 1954. He repudiated racial segregation and insisted on racial integration for his revivals and crusades, starting in 1953. He later invited Martin Luther King Jr. to preach jointly at a revival in New York City in 1957. In addition to his religious aims, he helped shape the worldview of a huge number of people who came from different backgrounds, leading them to find a relationship between the Bible and contemporary secular viewpoints. According to his website, Graham preached to live audiences of 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings, including BMS World Mission and Global Mission.


title: Billy Graham

text: Graham was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson (one of Graham's closest friends), and Richard Nixon. He was also lifelong friends with Robert Schuller, another televangelist and the founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, whom Graham talked into starting his own television ministry. Graham's evangelism was appreciated by mainline Protestant denominations, as he encouraged those mainline Protestants who were converted to his evangelical message to remain within or return to their mainline churches. Despite his early suspicions and apprehension, common among contemporaneous evangelical Protestants towards Catholicism, Graham eventually developed amicable ties with many American Catholic Church figures and later encouraged unity between Catholics and Protestants.


title: Billy Graham

text: Graham operated a variety of media and publishing outlets. According to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation at Billy Graham Crusades to "accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior". Graham's estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television broadcasts, topped 2 billion by 2008. As a result of his crusades, Graham preached the gospel to more people in person than anyone in the history of Christianity. Graham was on Gallup's list of most admired men and women a record 61 times. Grant Wacker writes that by the mid-1960s, he had become the "Great Legitimator": "By then his presence conferred status on presidents, acceptability on wars, shame on racial prejudice, desirability on decency, dishonor on indecency, and prestige on civic events."


title: Billy Graham

text: William Franklin Graham Jr. was born on November 7, 1918, in the downstairs bedroom of a farmhouse near Charlotte, North Carolina. He was of Scots-Irish descent and was the eldest of four children born to Morrow (née Coffey) and William Franklin Graham Sr., a dairy farmer. Graham was raised on a family dairy farm with his two younger sisters, Catherine Morrow and Jean and a younger brother, Melvin Thomas. When he was nine years old, the family moved about from their white frame house to a newly built red brick home. He was raised by his parents in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Graham attended the Sharon Grammar School. He started to read books from an early age and loved to read novels for boys, especially "Tarzan". Like Tarzan, he would hang on the trees and gave the popular Tarzan yell. According to his father, that yelling led him to become a minister. Graham was 15 when Prohibition ended in December 1933, and his father forced him and his sister Katherine to drink beer until they became sick. This created such an aversion that Graham and his sister avoided alcohol and drugs for the rest of their lives.


title: Billy Graham

text: Graham was turned down for membership in a local youth group for being "too worldly". Albert McMakin, who worked on the Graham farm, persuaded him to go and see the evangelist Mordecai Ham. According to his autobiography, Graham was 16 when he was converted during a series of revival meetings that Ham led in Charlotte in 1934.


title: Billy Graham

text: After graduating from Sharon High School in May 1936, Graham attended Bob Jones College. After one semester, he found that the coursework and rules were too legalistic. At this time he was influenced and inspired by Pastor Charley Young from Eastport Bible Church. He was almost expelled, but Bob Jones Sr. warned him not to throw his life away: "At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks ... You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily."


title: Billy Graham

text: In 1937, Graham transferred to the Florida Bible Institute in Temple Terrace, Florida. While still a student, Graham preached his first sermon at Bostwick Baptist Church near Palatka, Florida. In his autobiography, Graham wrote of receiving his calling on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club, which was adjacent to the institute's campus. Reverend Billy Graham Memorial Park was later established on the Hillsborough River, directly east of the 18th green and across from where Graham often paddled a canoe to a small island in the river, where he would practice preaching to the birds, alligators, and cypress stumps. In 1939, Graham was ordained by a group of Southern Baptist clergy at Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, Florida. In 1940, he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree.