Recline and sprawl

Adam Solomons | Issue 1 | Magazine, Politics

From the Archive

James_Tissot_-_Captain_Frederick_Gustavus_Burnaby

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s languid pose on the Treasury bench launched a thousand memes on social media. Five observers interpret his body language for us.

Philip Mould, art dealer: What’s so interesting about that Rees-Mogg pose is that, unlike 99 percent of the canon of British portraiture, he’s reclining. The political office of the 16th, 17th and first half of the 18th centuries was indistinctive from the aristocratic one. Even Cromwell would stand like a Van Dyck when he was being painted. The idiom of portraying political power was always to make you look like an aristocrat. Then, in the later 18th and 19th centuries, politicians were increasingly portrayed with a new democratic quality: you think of Thomas Lawrence and Millais doing Disraeli and Gladstone – they’re intransigent, statutory. There’s a new sobriet, with darker clothes that make it hard for artists to deal with. Artists then had to emphasise gesture and facial expression in a way that they hadn’t in the ostentatious iconography of yesteryear. And although it breached protocol, if you’re a portrait painter who wants to express the role of Leader of the House, what bette...

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Carry on, Clacton

William Cash | August 18, 2026

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The Clacton by-election: “It has been amazing for business”

Ella Beadman and Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | August 10, 2026

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Leader in Public Affairs: Grace Pritchard, Downing Street Director of News and the Prime Minister’s Political Spokesperson

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After heading the Makerfield by-election comms team, Grace Pritchard was singled out by Andy Burnham as being a key part of his northern campaign team. The self-styled 'Yorkshire