Even I'm not English under Suella Braverman's 'ridiculous' test, says Jacob Rees-Mogg as he swipes at Reform UK defectors

Jacob Rees-Mogg today mocked his former Cabinet colleague Suella Braverman over her 'ridiculous' test for being English. Mrs Braverman, who was home secretary in the previous Tory government before defecting to Reform UK, has suggested that British Asians like herself can't be English. In an appearance on BBC 's Question Time last week, the Reform MP said she is 'British of Asian ethnicity' rather than English because of her family's heritage. Her stance has been attacked by former prime minister Rishi Sunak who has warned of a 'very slippery slope' by turning questions about nationality 'into a DNA test'. Sir Jacob, a former business secretary, also took aim at Mrs Braverman's remarks as he appeared at a fringe event at the Conservatives' conference in Birmingham on Monday. 'I think Suella Braverman has said that it's five generations to be English,' he said. 'Well, on that basis, I am not English. Now, if I'm not English, I think there aren't many people who are!' Sir Jacob accused Mrs Braverman of opting for a 'ridiculous narrowness' in her definition of being English, while he also swiped at the 'Left-wingery' of her fellow defector Robert Jenrick. Jacob Rees-Mogg mocked his former Cabinet colleague Suella Braverman over her 'ridiculous' test for being English Mrs Braverman, who was home secretary in the previous Tory government before defecting to Reform UK, has suggested that British Asians like herself can't be English 'Come here and you get a British passport and you want to be English, I think it is open to you,' Sir Jacob told a recording of the Daily T podcast at the Tory conference. 'If you are born here and you want to be English, wherever your parents came from, it is open to you. We should encourage that.' Sir Jacob also argued that those who live in England see Englishness and Britishness as 'a synonymous thing'. But he added that he did not want 'people to be here and carry on being foreign', saying: 'I don't like that element of multi-culturalism, I think it is a mistake that undermines the unity of the nation.' Asked earlier about the rise of the so-called 'New Right' online, Sir Jacob said he was 'very worried about ethno-nationalism because I think it's a polite way of saying racism'. 'I think that's a very unpleasant emergence in British public life which we haven't had before,' he said. 'But I think it is a response to a failure of government, and a long-standing failure of government.' He added: 'The state has been saying for some time that if you are a white young man, you don't get a free hotel like if you've arrived in a boat, and positive discrimination must act against you.' Mrs Braverman defected to Reform from the Tories in January this year, shortly after Mr Jenrick defected to Nigel Farage's party after being sacked from the Conservative shadow cabinet by party leader Kemi Badenoch. Sir Jacob has long advocated for a deal between the two Right-wing parties in order to take on Labour at the next general election. But he gave a withering verdict of Mr Jenrick's performance as Reform's Treasury spokesman over the past eight months. 'I'm very worried about Robert's economic policy, which I think he has gone to his Cameroon ways and is advocating the sort of economic policy we had when David Cameron was in charge,' Sir Jacob said. 'Where you keep the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility), you don't cut inheritance tax - what is the point of Reform's economic policy? It's basically re-hashed Left-wingery. 'I'm not sure he would make a great contribution to a Conservative government.'