Tory candidate caught using member of staff to pose as constituent... in leaflet about honesty
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:22 PM on 28th December 2009
His latest election canvassing leaflet plays heavily on the fact that honesty is the best policy.
So it is perhaps unfortunate that a 'constituent' pictured on the newsletter chatting to would-be Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has been revealed to be one of his employees.
The image appears in a leaflet titled Honesty On The Economy, in which Mr Rees-Mogg, 40, calls for Labour to be more open about dealing with the recession.
Rees-Mogg as he appears in the leaflet talking to Fiona Tyrell. It is captioned 'Jacob talking to a lady in Midsomer Norton'. She is an employee at his London-based investment firm
In March Rees-Mogg was forced to apologise after plagiarising an editorial from a national newspaper for an election leaflet
How the picture appears in the leaflet
It is captioned 'Jacob talking to a lady in Midsomer Norton'.
But the 'lady' in question is also pictured on the website of Mr Rees-Mogg's London-based investment firm, Somerset Capital Management, where she is named as Fiona Tyrrell, Office Manager.
It is the latest controversy to engulf the Eton and Oxford-educated candidate, who is the son of former Times editor William Rees-Mogg.
In March he was forced to apologise after plagiarising an editorial from a national newspaper for an election leaflet.
And in May he was caught using staff to write an attack on Gordon Brown which he claimed to be his own words.
Today, Conservatives in the constituency - which is currently held by Labour MP Dan Norris - rallied around to dismiss his latest gaffe.
A leading party member, who did not want to be named, said: 'The important thing is what Jacob was saying about the economy, not who was in a picture on a website.
'This is a storm in a teacup because I would imagine every single MP and candidate will have done something similar in the past.'
The leaflet accuses Gordon Brown's government of making false 'self-congratulatory claims' about Britain's economy emerging from the recession.
It states: 'Jacob Rees-Mogg believes it is time to be honest with North Somerset resident about the state of the economic crisis and the measures that will be needed to deal with it.'
Mr Rees-Mogg, 40, is pictured chatting with the 'constituent' in front of a newsagents in the centre of Midsomer Norton.
The woman would have had to make a 260-mile round trip from London to participate in the photo opportunity.
Mr Rees-Mogg was selected as candidate for the newly-formed constituency in 2007.
At the time, he said the position fulfilled his ambition to represent the Somerset parliamentary seat in which his family has lived for generations.
His father was editor of The Times from 1967 until 1981 and is a columnist for the Mail on Sunday.
Mr Rees-Mogg was not available for comment.
LIAR LIAR LIAR LIAR. That just about sums up every candidate in every constituency throughout the uk. Dont waste your vote
- Tony Martin Army, Freedomland, 28/12/2009 18:25
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