‘I love money, always have done’…
Footage of the newly-appointed Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg as a 12-year-old has been unearthed, and it shows very little has changed over the years.
The MP for North Somerset takes over at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) after ruffling a few feathers as Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government efficiency.
He started his working life as an investment banker, with jobs in London and Hong Kong, before becoming an MP in 2010.
Three year’s prior he co-founded asset management firm Somerset Capital Management with a group of colleagues.
The firm currently manages about £6.9 billion worth of assets for institutions, including pension funds, from its bases in London and Singapore.
Rees-Mogg stepped down as chief executive of the business when he was first elected a member of parliament for North East Somerset in 2010, but remains a “sleeping partner” in the business.
He was most recently described as owning “less than 13 per cent” of the business but disclosed plans to reduce his stake to 5 per cent by 2027.
Last year he took roughly £600,000 in dividends from Somerset.
The Business Secretary’s financial ambitions have been clear from an early age when, at seven years old, he invested £50 in the stock market, having been left the money by a distant cousin, he said in a recently unearthed 1982 clip from French TV.
The youngster, who was being driven in his father’s Rolls-Royce at the time, professed his love of money and how he enjoyed attending shareholder meetings.
“I love money, always have done,” Rees-Mogg says.
“Why? Because you need money. With money, you can make more money. If you’ve got money, you can buy things that you want. I could buy this Rolls Royce, lovely.”
Watch the footage in full below:
Related Links
- Joe Lycett hilariously trolls Laura Kuenssberg during debut of her new show
- Gary Neville responds brilliantly to reports that his hotel is in debt and losing millions each year
- Boris Johnson’s energy bill advice dubbed ‘visionary gibberish’
- UK inflation to hit 19 per cent by January, leading investment bank predicts
