Jacob Rees Mogg on Opium
The current Tory leadership election has been enlivened by confessions of various candidates of the illegal drugs they have tried.
One Rory Stewart has smoked opium while in Iran.
Meanwhile Jacob Rees Mogg, who does not seem to be standing as leader on this occasion, has written not about how he took drugs (there is no evidence of such a thing I should underline) but how historically the British Empire, of which of course he is a huge fan, dealt with the matter of opium.
The nineteenth century opium trade originated in China and found its way through India both of which were of great interest to the imperial British.
In his widely criticised book The Victorians, Rees Mogg writes a good deal about the opium trade. In general he does not approve.
He notes that in the 1830s General Napier’s actions in India meant that the opium trade there came under British control but this was certainly not the aim of the General.
Two opium wars were fought in China, both backed by Lord Palmerston who was initially a Tory but became the first Liberal Prime Minister in 1859. Rees Mogg makes it clear that he does not think Palmerston acted decently in the matter of opium. Gladstone, when he became Prime Minister was resolutely against British involvement in anything to do with the opium trade. Gladstone being a Liberal, albeit a Victorian one, Rees Mogg is not a huge fan but on the opium issue he clearly supports him.
If we can take a moral lesson from Rees Mogg’s book, and it is a lot about morality, it is, don’t do drugs.
Its fair to say that in general this is and has been Tory policy which makes the recent leadership race revelations all the more interesting. Public virtues, and private vices
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