Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister joins Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and will stand as an MEP

Nigel Farage launched his new Brexit Party on Friday morning

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister, Annunziata Rees-Mogg, has announced that she will stand for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party in the coming European elections. Annunziata, 40, is a former Conservative parliamentary candidate - making unsuccessful attempts at becoming an MP in 2005 and 2010. She was present at the launch of Farage's new party and speaking at the event she said she wanted to make politicians "listen to what the people have said". "I joined the Conservative Party in 1984 and this is not a decision I have made lightly – to leave a party for which I have fought at every election since 1987, from Maggie Thatcher through to Theresa May," she said. "I know which one I’d rather have representing us now." She added: "The point at which our Prime Minister will not listen, not only to her membership but will not listen to the people of her country… I can’t sit by and let her do it. "We’ve got to rescue our democracy, we have got to show that the people of this country have a say in how we are run. "That the politicians are not our masters – they are to do our bidding." However, she said she would be "stunned [and] unbelievably surprised" if her brother followed her out of the party. "He sees one way of achieving Brexit and a return to democracy, and I see a different one," she said.

Speaking before her at the event, the former UKIP leader Nigel Farage launched his new Brexit Party, saying he wanted a "democratic revolution" in UK politics. He added that the European elections in May would be the party's "first step" in doing this.

"I said that if I did come back into the political fray it would be no more Mr Nice Guy and I mean it," he said. He added: "I haven't spent 25 years of my life doing that to simply roll over and to allow a career political class to betray that result without me fighting back. The fightback begins here. "Our two-party system simply cannot cope with Brexit. Our two-party system has been exposed as being unfit for purpose. We have a Parliament that is completely out of touch with our country. Politics is broken. "Our task and our mission are to change politics for good."