Jacob Rees-Mogg left the LBC studios with his tail between his legs yesterday after he struggled in a basic Latin test – despite extolling the benefits of learning classic languages at school.
A new Latin Excellence Programme is set to be rolled out by the government in 40 state schools in England as part of a four-year pilot to ensure the subject was not “for the privileged few”.
Defending the move on LBC, Eton-educated Rees-Mogg said “a good classical knowledge is a very high level of intellect”, adding:
“Do you remember a few weeks ago there was some woke statement about how people shouldn’t use Latin quips because it discriminated? That’s completely the wrong way around. What you want to do is make sure people are comfortable with Latin quips because you’ve given them such a good education. That’s what levelling up is all about.
“It’s not about stopping difficult things. It’s making opportunity available to everybody.”
But the Tory MP appeared to be a little rusty himself when presented with a basic Latin test live on air.
He only got one out of the three questions correct, which was the Eton school motto.
He did not know the Latin for “through fire nature is reborn whole or “don’t get your knickers in a twist”.
Fair to say the reaction on social media has been pretty hilarious.
Here’s what people had to say:
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