Moggmentum, the grassroots campaign calling for Jacob Rees-Mogg to replace Theresa May as Conservative leader (and Prime Minister) has been picked up by supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. And boy are they unhappy about it.

The Canary, perhaps the most vociferously pro-Corbyn media publication, recently published a piece entitled ‘We need to talk about why the internet is falling in love with Jacob Rees-Mogg, because it’s not OK’. The piece notes that Rees-Mogg is ‘fast becoming a social media star’ and describes this as ‘a serious problem that we can’t just dismiss’.

In a section subtitled ‘No laughing matter’ the piece goes on to assert that ‘Rees-Mogg and his eccentric aristocratic ways are nothing to laugh about. They represent everything that is wrong in our society…His recent rise in popularity should not be lightly dismissed, especially given recent upsets in politics. The Tories are desperately looking for a ‘character’; a ‘BoJo’ who isn’t tainted by actually being Boris Johnson. And Rees-Mogg could provide this’.

It seems The Canary is worried about Rees-Mogg’s popularity. Unsurprisingly then, they attempt to smear him. Rees-Mogg is describes as someone who ‘shows contempt for democracy, and is opposed to gay rights and human rights’. No evidence is provided which remotely justified any of these claims but they hey, this is The Canary.

Incidentally all of the above claims could be directed with more legitimacy at top Labour figures. Leader Jeremy Corbyn took £20,000 from Press TV, the English language propaganda channel of the Iranian Government (you know – that regime which ACTUALLY hangs homosexuals). Corbyn is a longstanding supporter of the Cuban regime, which imprisons its opponents, and has been similarly supportive of Venezuela’s increasingly dictatorial socialist government. Meanwhile he has appointed Andrew Murray, who previously wrote about the ‘successes’ of the Soviet Union and called for solidarity with the Government of North Korea, as one of his top aides.

Oh and the piece doesn’t seem to have got quite the reaction the author intended. The most ‘liked’ comment below the line is one refuting the claim that Rees-Mogg was given a public handout to renovate Wentworth Woodhouse, the ancestral home of Rees-Mogg’s wife. Ouch!