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And Finally Artist News
Jacob Rees-Mogg raps in Parliament
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 9 July 2021
Well, here’s a thing. Earlier this week we heard rejected versions of the rapped verse on New Order’s ‘World In Motion’ by footballers Paul Gascoigne and Peter Beardsley. Now, cartoonish Victorian politician Jacob Rees-Mogg has delivered the same lyrics from the England football team’s official 1990 World Cup track to the British parliament.
Marking England’s win against Denmark in the semi-finals of the Euros this week, the Brexit-loving MP said in the House Of Commons: “Everyone I think is rejoicing at the football success, and I think the line to take, Mr Speaker, is from Mr Barnes: ‘You’ve got to hold and give/But do it at the right time/You can be slow or fast/But you must get to the line'”.
“And can I reassure you, Mr Speaker”, he went on, “that ‘We ain’t no hooligans/This ain’t a football song/Three lions on my chest/I know we can’t go wrong'”.
And then, because Rees-Mogg is unable to say anything without referencing a war or a 17th century poet (the latter in this case), he added: “Or as another John put it – John Dryden – ‘For they can conquer who believe they can’. And I think, for the record, that Dryden was translating Virgil in those comments. But the point is exactly the same”.
Rees-Mogg is not the first MP to quote rap lyrics in Parliament. Back in 2017, Croydon MP Sarah Jones quoted her constituent Stormzy in her maiden speech. The same year, another Labour MP, Fiona Onasanya, quoted – or rather misquoted – Big Shaq’s ‘Man’s Not Hot’.
Speaking of misquoting lyrics, while failed Prime Minister David Cameron never rapped in Parliament, he did once recite some of the most famous lyrics by his supposedly favourite band The Smiths, albeit incorrectly. And I think that is probably the reason why Morrissey is the way he is today.
Anyway, long story short, Jacob Rees-Mogg is a better rapper than Peter Beardsley:
This story is discussed on this episode of our Setlist podcast
