A Tory Cabinet Minister lecturing workers about going back to the office has been accused of enjoying a four-day week.
A leaked email shows Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is “suspicious” about people working from home on Fridays, does not take his ministerial “box” home with him on this day.
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, the Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency, has called for the “rapid return” of civil servants to their offices in Whitehall now that Covid-19 restrictions have ended.
He was widely mocked for leaving a “passive aggressive” note on the desk of officials which stated: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”
Rees Mogg, dubbed the “Honourable Member for the 18th century” for his outdated attitudes, also joked that people who work from home on sunny days may actually be sneaking off to watch cricket.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.”
In another dig, he attacked a trade union that has defended its members over home working.
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 an email from Rees-Mogg’s private office, and leaked to the Record, raises questions about his own workrate.
The bottom of the email states: “The Minister does not take a box on Fridays.”
It comes after Rees-Mogg made unflattering comments about officials 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.”
The famous boxes are a key part of a minister’s job and contain the work they have to plough through. Some ministers are said to work for hours in the evening on their boxes.
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.
“At the next election, people in Scotland have the chance to do more than oppose Boris Johnson’s Tories, Labour can replace them altogether.”
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole Hamilton said: “Jacob Rees-Mogg has made a name for himself by the depth of his chutzpah – but this is a new low.
“He has undermined any credibility he may have had on this matter.”
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 Cabinet Office source said Rees-Mogg used Fridays for his MP constituency duties.
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