JACOB Rees-Mogg has been accused of taking a four-day week after slamming workers who choose to work remotely.
According to the Daily Record, a leaked email shows that Rees-Mogg, who is “suspicious” about working from home on Fridays, leaves his ministerial “box” in the office on that day.
It comes after the Brexit Opportunities Minister left “passive-aggressive” notes on the desks of remote workers which said: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “The hypocrisy is staggering. While Jacob Rees-Mogg has been quick to harass civil servants with notes on their desks, he must have forgotten to put one on his own as he rushes out for an early weekend.”
Rees-Mogg has been highly critical of remote working culture and has urged the “rapid return” of civil servants to their offices now that coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.
The Tory minister joked people who work remotely during sunny weather might be heading off to watch cricket.
He said: “We’re going to have to compare notes with the Met Office. We need to have the evidence on Lord’s Test matches and all that.”
Rees-Mogg also aimed a dig at the trade union that represents civil servants after it defended its members.
He said: “There’s a hard-working ethos in the civil service, unfortunately not represented by their trade union, which seems to want them to be in Tuscany to call into work.”
However, serious questions are now being raised over the Tory minister’s work ethic following the leaked email.
The end of the email says: “The Minister does not take a box on Fridays.”
The “box” refers to the red boxes that ministers use to carry official documents and the work they need to carry out.
This follows barbed comments from Rees-Mogg civil servants not being in the office on this day.
He said: “I do worry that the desire to take off Monday and Friday is an indication that people think that the working week is shorter than the reality is. One can’t help but be suspicious about the desire to work from home on Mondays and Fridays.”
Labour MP Ian Murray said: “This is frankly embarrassing from Jacob Rees-Mogg.
“While families across the country are struggling with the rising cost of living, Rees-Mogg is working a four-day week.
“The people of Britain deserve so much more than Boris Johnson."
Wishart added: “It speaks volumes of this broken Tory government’s priorities that senior ministers are more focused on picking on civil servants than focusing on the day job.
“The Tory-made cost of living crisis may not be something that affects the pampered, privileged life of Jacob Rees-Mogg, but ordinary people across the UK are being hammered while the UK government sits on its hands.”
A Daily Record Cabinet Office source said the Brexit Opportunities Minister spent Fridays on his MP constituency duties.
