Thursday, February 08, 2007

Lloyd George, Asquith... and Jacob Rees-Mogg

This blog has been known to poke a little gentle fun at Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is the son of the former Times editor and Tory PPC for the new North East Somerset seat.

Peter Black has gone further, suggesting that Rees-Mogg's appearance on Newsnight (he provides a link to a video of it) is the reason why Liberal Democrats should never countenance working with the Tories. However silly Rees-Mogg's views (and they are very silly), that seems a bit strong. After all, we do run councils like Leicester and Birmingham together.

But if we delve a little further into Rees-Mogg's life some fascinating connections with great Liberal names of the past appear. For, as this website tells us, he is head of global emerging markets and a director of Lloyd George Management.

Lloyd George? Yes, there is a connection with David Lloyd George. The company was founded by Robert Lloyd George, and it turns out that he is the great grandson of the Liberal leader and the author of the book David and Winston: How a friendship changed history, which I reviewed in Liberator last year.

There is more. Lloyd George Management's expert on Latin American markets is one Mark Asquith. Is there another connection? More research shows shows that he is indeed the great great grandson of the last Liberal prime minister.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The scions have patched it up then.

Paul Evans said...

What an incestous bunch we are!

Anonymous said...

Was DLG not the last Liberal PM rather than Asquith?

Anonymous said...

Does David Campbell Bannerman work there as well?

Jonathan Calder said...

blab: LG was the leader of a coalition government rather than a purely Liberal one. I suppose it is a question of definition.