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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Mikey Smith & Dan Bloom & Oliver Milne

Brexit Party: Jacob Rees-Mogg's SISTER Annunziata stands for Nigel Farage group

Jacob Rees-Mogg's SISTER has been announced as one of the first candidates for Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg - a former Tory candidate who joined the Conservatives at the age of five - was unveiled as a shock star candidate for EU elections on May 23.

Just over 100 activists sat on plastic garden chairs in a factory room in Coventry to watch the announcement.

The privately-educated fox hunting supporter once worked on the Brexiteer journal of Tory MP Bill Cash - who yesterday demanded Theresa May resign for "abject surrender".

The 40-year-old and her brother Jacob are both hard Brexiteers and were among five children of late newspaper editor William Rees-Mogg.

She stood for the Tories aged just 26 in Aberavon, before falling out with the leadership when she stood again in Somerton and Frome in 2010.

David Cameron had suggested she refer to herself as 'Nancy Mogg' - because her own name sounded too posh - but she refused.

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Annunziata Rees-Mogg - a former Tory candidate who joined the Conservatives in 1984 - was unveiled as a shock star candidate (Tristan Potter / SWNS)
Annunziata famously clashed with David Cameron after her name was deemed too posh (PA)

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Launching the party's EU elections fight in Coventry, Mr Farage said: "This party is not here just to fight the European elections... this party is not just to express our anger - May 23 is the first step of the Brexit Party.

"We will change politics for good.

"Yes I'm angry but this is not a negative emotion, this is a positive emotion. I said I wanted to cause an earthquake in politics... but now we will achieve a democratic revolution in politics."

Mr Farage - who put a £1,000 bet at 3/1 on his party getting the most seats in the May 23 elections - introduced Ms Rees-Mogg as a candidate who would be running.

Farage said he wanted to put "fear" back into MPs despite months of warnings about the far right (REUTERS)

Standing before a sign warning people to wear gas masks, she said: "I'm here today in sadness.

"Our democracy has been so betrayed that I have felt the need to be here."

It came as Nigel Farage used the launch of his new party's EU elections campaign in Coventry to say he wanted to put "fear" back into MPs.

Nigel Farage skewered by BBC interviewer after saying UKIP has gone 'far right' 

Despite this, he attacked UKIP for being "taken over" by the far right after he left (PA)

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Speaking despite months of warnings about rising threats to MPs and the far right he said: "I do believe we can win these European elections and we can again start to put the fear of God into our MPs in Westminster.

“They deserve nothing less than that after the way they’ve treated us over this betrayal.”

Furious Labour MP Jess Phillips hit back: "You cannot scare me, you shouldn't try, why don't you try to build rather than break, it's harder, takes more time and intelligence granted, anyone can play fear peddling villain it's politics paint by numbers. Put away your finger paints, pick up a pen."

He told activists sitting on white plastic garden chairs the nation was in "managed decline".

Mr Farage - who failed in bids to become an MP seven times - said politicians are "incompetent" and "not very good at anything".

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Jacob Rees-Mogg - son of the late newspaper editor William - is a hardline MP (REUTERS)

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Despite spending 20 years as a paid-up MEP he slammed the "career political class" for "betraying" people over Brexit.

And he said the country was "led by donkeys" - the name of the anti-Brexiteer campaign group which has hijacked the Brexit Party's brand with a spoof website.

At today's event it was announced Venture Capitalist Richard Tice would be taking over as party chairman from Farage.

Other candidates included June Mummery, a fisheries campaigner and now a teacher, and Ben Habib, who was described as a former Tory donor.

Nigel Farage and Annunziata Rees-Mogg at the launch of the Brexit Party's European Parliament elections campaign in Coventry (PA)

Mr Farage, who quit UKIP in December, earlier said his former party has been "taken over" by the far right - and his new party, by contrast, will be "intolerant of intolerance".

Yet moments later, he said there was "no difference" in policy between the two parties.

He also said MPs should "fear" the public over Brexit - using the sort of language many have blamed for rising threats against MPs.

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The privately-educated fox hunting supporter once worked on the Brexiteer journal of Tory MP Bill Cash (Phil Rees / Rex Features)
David Cameron once suggested she drop her posh name - but she refused (Getty Images)

He was confronted by Radio 4's Today programme, who pointed out that the Brexit Party's own leader quit over anti-Islam messages sent from her Twitter account.

The messages on Catherine Blaiklock's now-deleted account claimed Islam is "incompatible with liberal democracy" that “Islam = submission – mostly to raping men it seems”.

Pressed further he said: "I set the party up, she was the administrator that got it set up, fine.

"Have we had a couple of teething problems? Yes."

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