Formerly active in Conservative Party politics, Rees-Mogg was added to the party's A-List by David Cameron.[4] She stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative parliamentary candidate in the 2005 and 2010 general elections.[5][6] On 12 April 2019, Rees-Mogg was selected as a candidate for the Brexit Party in the East Midlands constituency in the European Parliament elections[7] and won a seat.[8] She resigned the party whip in December 2019 to support the Conservative Party's Brexit strategy.[9] She rejoined the Conservative Party in January 2020.[10]
Early life and education
Annunziata Mary Rees-Mogg is one of the daughters of William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of The Times, and his wife Gillian Shakespeare Morris; she is the youngest sister of Jacob Rees-Mogg.
She joined the Conservative Party at the age of five.[11] She later said of this "I was too young to be a Young Conservative, so I joined the main party. Aged eight I was out canvassing, proudly wearing my rosette."[4]
She was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Somerton and Frome in 2006.[11]The Observer said of her, "Having enjoyed finance and journalism, she combined the two in a career as a financial journalist. When she turns to discussing Gordon Brown's economic record, she does so with authority."[15] In November 2007, she wrote an article for MoneyWeek magazine entitled "How to profit from the world's water crisis", setting out some of the investment opportunities in the sector.[16] An article in The Sunday Telegraph in October 2009 reported, "Some high-profile women are already installed in winnable seats: Louise Bagshawe [now Mensch], Annunziata Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel, Laura Sandys and Joanne Cash will all make colourful additions to the Tory benches."[17] However, at the 2010 general election, Rees-Mogg failed to take the Somerton and Frome seat from the sitting Liberal Democrat member David Heath.[6]
It was reported that in advance of the 2010 election David Cameron had asked Rees-Mogg to shorten her name for political purposes to Nancy Mogg, which her brother Jacob has since said was "a joke".[18][19] Rees-Mogg later commented: "I think it's phoney to pretend to be someone you're not."[13] Cameron subsequently dropped her from the Conservative Party's 2011 pre-selections, despite strong support from many female party members.[20]
During 2019, before her tactically timed defection away from the party, Rees-Mogg had been a high-profile Brexit Party backer and advocate.[25][26][27][28][29][30] The Brexit Party has since become the political party Reform UK.
In September 2010, Rees-Mogg became engaged to Matthew Glanville[31] and on 6 November 2010, they were married in Lucca, Italy.[32] Four months later, on 8 March 2011, she gave birth to a daughter.[33] In 2018, she gave birth to a second daughter. In late 2019, she announced she was expecting a third child.[34]