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The moment where Jacob Rees-Mogg is told he’s about to lose his seat during the general election is captured in all its awkward glory during a new reality series following the former MP’s family.
The show follows the former Conservative cabinet minister and his family in the weeks leading up to the election, which saw the Labour Party win a historic landslide victory.
In the second episode, the politician is shown receiving a call from his agent, Margaret Brewer, who informs him he is about to lose his seat – despite having a majority of nearly 15,000 votes.
In the moments after the call, Rees-Mogg – who was previously in good spirits – says to his wife Helena: “Not good news. Not good news. Labour are comfortably ahead. And Reform is taking a big share. So there we go.”
“Onwards and upwards”, he says, as they head to the election count.
Ms Brewer later tells the cameras she would expect the former cabinet minister to be “very sad” if he loses his seat.
“He enjoys it, he loves being an MP. It’s like being told you’re not wanted anymore. It’s it’s very difficult for an individual to accept and put on a brave face. I think even though he knows it could happen at any time, the reality I think is something completely different. I think is a bitter pill to swallow.”
“If this is the end, I feel quite sad about it because it’s a rotten way to lose”, she adds.
As they announce the result, Helena can be seen looking solemn as the crowds cheer for winner, Labour MP Dan Norris, who Rees-Mogg won the seat off in 2010.
“Thank God”, she says. “And we knew it was coming, you know, Starmer-geddon, Labour landslide, Conservative train crash and whatever, but you just have to get on with it. That’s democracy for you.
“Now that Jacob sadly lost his seat, he obviously won’t be going to Parliament anymore. What else he does next, I’m not sure and I don’t even know whether he is sure.”
The documentary also shows behind-the-scenes footage of the family at their Somerset home, before Rees-Mogg heads to the count.
At one point the documentary shows one of his six children, Alfred, drawing a beard and “enormously big glasses” on a newspaper front page of Sir Keir Starmer, while his daughter Mary writes the word “communist”.
The children are later reprimanded by Helena, who says: “If you haven’t got anything nice to say don’t say anything at all”.
Another section of the documentary, filmed on the 12th birthday of their fourth son Anselm, shows the whole family heading out to attend a birthday party hosted by former prime minister Boris Johnson.
While cameras weren’t allowed inside to film the party, Rees-Mogg daughter Mary describes Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie as “really cool people”, adding: “They’re so fun”.
The teenager also recounts how she used to be teased at school for being the daughter of a Conservative politician, saying people would accuse her father of “hating foreigners” during the Brexit referendum.
“When I was little I used to get a bit offended about those sorts of things”, she says, adding: “When it was the height of Brexit and going to school and people would say ‘my mummy says that your daddy hates foreigners’.
“I think when I was very little, that upset me a little bit”.
Meet The Rees-Moggs will be streaming on Discovery+ from December 2.