Jacob Rees-Mogg joined a uni Zoom lecture, only to get repeatedly muted and pranked

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s attempts to educate a load of undergrads have run into technical difficulties, as he endured muting and prank interventions during a Zoom lecture.

During a talk given to students at Royal Holloway, the so-called “Member for the 18th Century” was sabotaged by newfangled technology, his mouth moving but no sounds coming out.

Noticing what had happened, he said: “I’m sorry, somebody is muting me regularly. I don’t know how this is being done remotely, but I’ll keep going and I’ll watch the button”.

As former Commons speaker John Bercow – now a professor at the university – sat in helpless silence, pesky students toyed with Rees-Mogg, playing loud sounds and trying to prank him.

One intruder joined, played a sound saying “can you stop kicking me”, to which Rees-Mogg said: “We’ve just had a very interesting intervention”

Another set their name to “Greta Thunberg” and put their mouth right up against the camera.

The Somerset MP is no stranger to disruption during talks. In 2018, “scuffles” broke out while he was giving a talk at UWE.

Anti-fascists surrounded Rees-Mogg in protest at his “homophobic and anti-abortion views”.

He said their protest was legitimate, and was afterwards praised by UWE for his “composure”.

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