Jacob Rees-Mogg has been tipped to be the next Tory leader, a rumour celebrated by his online following, who have been nicknamed Moggmentum.
But after airing some extreme opinions on breakfast television, his opponents decided to flood his followers’ hashtag with some GIFs that were pretty off-topic.
When the Have I Got News For You regular appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, the much-mocked politician shared his views on abortion and gay marriage.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, tipped as next leader of the Conservative party, tells @gmb he’s against gay marriage and abortion in any circumstances
— Susanna Reid (@susannareid100) September 6, 2017
In the interview, he indicated his opposition to gay marriage and said that abortion was “morally indefensibleâ€.
Twitter user Alex Andreou seems to be the first person who suggested giving those searching the #Moggmentum hashtag a little surprise.
Wouldn’t it be a DREADFUL thing, if homophobic leadership wannabe Jacob Rees-Mogg’s hashtag #moggmentum was totally swamped by homoerotica? pic.twitter.com/10FGVawweh
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) September 6, 2017
Queue loads of snogging GIFs.
Ah #MoggMentum, such a beautiful hashtag of gifs pic.twitter.com/AGOhoMQJD5
— freyargh (@Arianwen09) September 7, 2017
And it wasn’t all erotica, there were some romantic ones too.
#MoggMentum welcome to 21th century. Be careful don’t put your fingers in the box on the wall. It’s call “electricity”. pic.twitter.com/m2wwsISsbY
— “Saboteur” Steph (@SoftDvil) September 7, 2017
More than naughty GIFs, it accidentally turned into a movement documenting iconic moments in queer culture.
If you’re just joining us, go check out the #moggmentum tag ? pic.twitter.com/PktjGdP24P
— Hope (@Glitterati3_A) September 6, 2017
Some used the opportunity to mock Rees-Mogg’s questionable opinions on abortion, that are odds with the Government’s stance and as he put it: the “law of the landâ€.
I wouldn’t want to upset those who think they have say over a woman’s body #moggmentum pic.twitter.com/ygFBw3ImaM
— Amanda (@filmvsbook) September 6, 2017
The backbencher, who has six children, claims never to have changed a nappy and reportedly said he once took his nanny canvassing, has often been nicknamed the “MP for the 18th centuryâ€.
Despite starting his Twitter career with a rather progressive sounding phrase in Latin (translated by the Merriam-Webster dictionary to mean ‘the times change, and we change with them’), his latest comments came as no surprise to anyone who had seen his voting record since he was first elected in 2010.
Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) July 15, 2017
According to theyworkforyou.com, he has voted consistently against gay rights, equality and human rights, as well as same sex marriage.
The MP hasn’t yet responded on Twitter, so we can only imagine what Rees-Mogg and his fans thought when they logged on to Twitter and saw the trend.