Jacob Rees-Mogg takes to the campaign trail: Double-breasted Tory MP reveals what he wears when it is too hot for his suit, how he hates bananas and why Nigel Farage should be welcomed back into the Conservative party

Jacob Rees-Mogg has taken to the campaign trail and revealed what he wears when it is too hot for his suit and why Nigel Farage should be welcomed back into the Conservative party.

The Tory MP, who is known to only wear a traditional double-breasted suit, also explained why he hates bananas - describing them as 'slimy and unpleasant'.

The veteran Brexiteer also avoids vegetables and instead fuels his body on the campaign trail with instant coffee so thick it has the consistency of 'tar'.

He has been out meeting his North East Somerset constituents in his Jaguar this week.

But the father-of-six is already something of a local celebrity with people regularly honking their horns, waving from windows and asking for selfies. 

One roundabout in his constituency had a stencilled portrait of the MP in a top hat displayed on a sign.

If it gets too hot during a day of canvassing, the traditional gentleman said he would change into his cream suit - but would keep his tie on.

'If I didn't wear a tie, my head would probably fall off', he told The Telegraph.  

But the MP, who has previously been labelled 'the honourable member for the 18th century' due to his old-fashioned mannerisms, said his sense of dress was definitely not part of his 'brand'.

'Do you think that anyone in their right mind would dress the way I do as a deliberate strategy? They'd have to be a lunatic', he told the paper. 

The MP is usually regarded as sitting on the Right of his party. And he has now backed the call for Nigel Farage to be allowed back into the party, not only as a backbencher but to 'play a leading role'.

Nigel Farage remains the honorary president of Reform UK but has ruled himself out of standing for election on July 4.

When Farage was leader of UKIP he had refused to field a candidate in Sir Jacob's constituency. 

A day out on the campaign trail for Sir Jacob begins with the family's factotum, Sean, bringing breakfast on a tray.

But the MP usually skips breakfast himself, preparing for the day with a mug of instant coffee instead. 

He is hoping to hold onto his seat in North East Somerset, where he enjoyed 15,000 majority in 2019.

But the seat has now been changed in the boundary review to be called North East Somerset and Hanham, with a chunk of suburbia now added on.

Much of the area was Labour from 1997-2010, under an MP called Dan Norris, and he has returned to the electoral fray for a rematch with Sir Jacob this summer.

While out on the campaign trail Sir Jacob is known for his signature politeness, charm and flattery.

When one self-confessed 'old and cynical' voter complained that the 'country is in a mess', Sir Jacob responded by gesturing towards his wife saying 'this is a child bride!'. 

The distinguished MP has now been campaigning for almost three decades, after his first attempt to be elected the MP for Central Fife failed in 1997.

During that campaign he famously took his nanny along with him in his mother's Mercedes Estate as they tirelessly and enthusiastically knocked on doors in the working-class Labour stronghold.

He only won 9 per cent of the vote, but tried again at the 2001 general election, losing The Wrekin in Shropshire to Labour's Peter Bradbury.

In 2005 he failed to be selected in the fantastically posh London borough of Kensington and Chelsea for 'lacking the common touch'.

But in 2010 it all finally came good in Somerset North East, where his family has lived for centuries.

Since being elected Sir Jacob worked his way into cabinet and served as leader of the House of Commons and Brexit opportunities minister in Boris Johnson's administration.

Sir Jacob resigned from government in October 2022 when Rishi Sunak replaced Ms Truss in No10.

Since then he has joined TV channel GB News where he fronts his own show, titled 'Jacob Rees-Mogg's State of the Nation'.

Sir Jacob and his wife have six children, also including Alfred, Anselm and Sixtus.

He has previously revealed he'd like to have a seventh child but admitted his wife Helena 'is not so keen'.

The couple last had a child in 2017, with the arrival of son Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher.

The other children's full names are Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius, Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan, Peter Theodore Alphege, Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam and Mary Anne Charlotte Emma Rees-Mogg.

Despite having so many children, Sir Jacob has previously revealed that he has never changed a nappy.

He ruled himself out from running to replace Theresa May as PM in 2019 by saying he had too many children to do the job.

He admitted taking charge of No10 would be 'very difficult' because he is a 'family man'.

The Rees-Mogg family live together in the 17th-century Gournay Court, a Grade II-listed country house, in the MP's Somerset constituency.

They also have a central London residence.

Sir Jacob's nanny, Veronica Crook, has worked for the family for more than half-a-century.

She was initially hired by his parents in 1965 after the birth of their second daughter Charlotte, to look after his sisters before Sir Jacob was even born.

Sir Jacob's father was William Rees-Mogg, a long-serving editor of The Times newspaper.

He attended Eton College and then Oxford University, where he became president of the Oxford University Conservative Association.

Sir Jacob worked in investment banking prior to becoming a politician and set up his own fund management firm, known as Somerset Capital Management.

He and his wife are estimated to enjoy a wealth of more than £100million.

Sir Jacob took an interest in investing at an early age and went along to the annual general meeting of the now-defunct General Electric Company as a shareholder at the age of 12.

After he appeared on BBC radio to speak about his attendance at the 1981 meeting, the young Sir Jacob later wrote to the broadcaster to ask to be paid £18 for the interview.

Sir Jacob was chair of the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers between 2018 and 2019, as MPs engaged in fierce battles over the UK's exit from the EU.

His most committed fans have previously launched a 'Moggmentum' campaign in support of Sir Jacob.