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Tory leadership hopeful Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is against gay marriage and abortion in any circumstances.

The MP for North East Somerset made the controversial comments in an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Speaking to presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, Rees-Mogg said he completely opposed abortion and believed it should never be an option even if a woman has become pregnant as a result of rape.

He said his beliefs stemmed from his support of the teachings of the Catholic church.

When asked about his views on gay marriage, he said he was not afraid to say he opposed it and added: “The teaching of the Catholic Church is completely clear.”

And asked if his opposition to abortion included in cases of rape and incest, he said: “I’m afraid so. Life is sacrosanct and begins at the point of conception, and I think it is wrong.”

Addressing his views, Morgan said: "Say if you were PM and a woman is raped by a family member, you would say she had absolutely no right to have that baby aborted?"

To which Rees-Mogg responded: "No she would have a right under UK law."

"But you wouldn’t agree with that right?" Morgan asked.

The MP said the "law is not going to change" but, when Piers asked for his "personal opinion", he said: "My personal opinion is that life begins at the point of conception and abortion is morally indefensible."

Morgan later tweeted: "Jacob Rees-Mogg's hardline comments on @GMB today re gay marriage & abortion now making lots of headlines. Is it his Tim Farron moment?"

Farron's relgious beliefs and views on gay marriage overshadowed his election campaign.

When he resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats in June, Farron cited scrutiny over his Christian faith as one of the reasons and said he did not want his religious beliefs to "overshadow" the party's message.

Rees-Mogg is the favourite to succeed Theresa May as the next leader of the Conservative party – despite insisting he is a “backbench MP”.

The eccentric politician has emerged as one of the popular choices to succeed Mrs May following her disastrous June election result.

But, in an interview with The Sunday Times, he played down the idea and claims that he had revealed leadership ambitions to friends.

"I think if I threw my hat in the ring, my hat would be thrown back at me pretty quickly," he said.

And he said during the Wednesday morning interview that it would be "vanity" to run for Prime Minister.