Unfortunately, the news that Jacob Rees-Mogg makes millions from his investment company won't stop Moggmentum

Can anything slow #Moggmentum?

Back in May, Jacob Rees-Mogg was the Brexit-supporting, back-bench Tory MP who had a penchant for tweed, Latin and witty criticisms of both the Opposition and his own party. He was a rebel, an outsider; despite his establishment credentials.

Now, with the Tories’ majority destroyed by Theresa May’s disastrous decision to call a general election, Rees-Mogg is suddenly being touted as a possible candidate for prime minister should the present incumbent of No 10 decide to step down. He could, say supporters, be the UK’s answer to that other great political rebel, Donald Trump, only better dressed.

What’s more, just as Ed Miliband was the subject of the #Milifandom phenomenon, so Rees-Mogg has found himself a fan base on social media. Indeed, he appears to have courted it, posting pictures of himself and his children on Instagram (43,000 followers), before joining Twitter just last month (already 49,500 followers). A recent analysis by The Sunday Times concluded that he is a notably more successful tweeter than any member of the cabinet.

A grassroots petition calling for Rees-Mogg to run for the Tory leadership has attracted over 23,000 signatures. One super-fan had the word Moggmentum tattooed above his left nipple.

With Moggmania dominating the dog days of August, the bookies have shortened the odds on Rees-Mogg to be the next leader of the Conservative Party: you can get him at 5-1 with William Hill, second favourite after David Davis. What has the world come to?

This weekend, however, it was revealed by The Sunday Times that Rees-Mogg may have collected income topping £1m in the last year, and that since his election to parliament in 2010, he has earned at least £4m. All this thanks to being a partner in an investment company, Somerset Capital Management (SCM), which he helped to establish before he became an MP.

The majority of his income from SCM goes undeclared on the parliamentary register because it is paid as dividends. Only the £173,000 he earns annually for his part-time work for the firm (30-35 hours a month) is on view to the public. Rees-Mogg, perhaps unsurprisingly, is unrepentant about his cash bonanza. “My dividend is private”, he told The Sunday Times, “that’s not something I have to declare”.

How will this go down with the Moggmaniacs? One of the apparent attractions of Britain’s most retro MP is his “what you see is what you get” approach. The plummy accent, the posh kid names, and the attachment to his childhood nanny: Rees-Mogg has managed to become a man of the people not by trying to be like others but by accepting himself for what he is. It is a far cry from the endless attempts by others to seem normal – you know, by wearing jeans or by saying that they really like The Killers. (It’s always The Killers).

In this respect, the fact that Rees-Mogg is moneyed per se doesn’t matter to those who like him. He is, after all, entirely upfront about it. But the news that he also receives – albeit quite legitimately – millions of pounds that the public can’t scrutinise doesn’t quite fit the image of openness.

On the other hand, receiving dividends from a successful company that he co-founded is entirely in keeping with the old-style Conservative ideals that Rees-Mogg espouses. He might come from an established Somerset family and be the son of a newspaper-editing peer, but Jacob has made his own way in business and politics, creating ever more capital rather than simply hoovering up what he can from the family coffers.

His acumen in the world of finance might not play as well to the young fogeys who are primarily interested in his double-breasted suits and his ability to trot out long words in the House of Commons. But for true blue Tories looking for the man to lead the party into a post-Brexit world, the mix of establishment heritage and business ability must look enticing.

For anyone interested in liberal Britain succeeding in the years to come, the rise and rise of Rees-Mogg ought to be troubling. He is, after all, explicitly proud of not being a modern man. In parliament he has opposed same-sex marriage but supported tougher asylum controls, the bedroom tax and exemptions to the smoking ban. He has also, it should be noted, never been more than a backbencher. Forget Moggmentum, the prospect of a Prime Minister Rees-Mogg is Moggmadness.