Jacob Rees-Mogg has produced a style guide for MPs instructing them to call non-titled males ‘Esq’ According to Paul Brand, the political correspondent for ITV News, the style-guide also bans modern idioms such as ‘got’

He is known as the honourable member for the 18th century because of his curiously antiquated persona.

Now Jacob Rees-Mogg is insisting the values of the past are inculcated into the language used by his staff.

One of the first acts of the new Leader of the House of Commons has been to produce a style guide which instructs his colleagues to use imperial measurements and refer to non-titled males as Esq.

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According to Paul Brand, the political correspondent for ITV News, the style-guide also bans modern idioms such as “got” and “no longer fit for purpose” . Too much use of “I” is also banned.

Traditional attire and formality

Although most imperial measurements – introduced throughout the British Empire in the early 18th century – were phased out in the UK from the 1960s onwards, Mr Rees-Mogg may well be cocking a snook at the European Union, which uses metric measurements.

The UK continues to use miles instead of kilometres, but is metric in most other respects.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who is known for his traditional attire and love of formality, is also insisting on double spaces after full stops, no full stops after Ms or Miss, but “M.P.”.

‘Britain just got a little greater’

Punctuation pedants greeted the list with some criticism.

Responding on social media, the double spacing rule was described as being “out of the ark”.

Gordon Brown’s former adviser Damian McBride pointed out that Mr Rees-Mogg had used words on his banned list “2,621 times since he came into the Commons”.

But it received some support from the right-wing historian and Daily Telegraph writer Tim Stanley, who said “Britain just got a little greater”.