Jacob Rees-Mogg's office bans words including 'very', 'got' and 'hopefully'

A memo for employees in the new leader of Britain's House of Commons office also directs them to address men with the courtesy title 'esquire'

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 file photo, British lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg gestures as he speaks at a meeting for eurosceptic think tank The Bruges group, in London. The new leader of Britain��������s House of Commons has some old-fashioned rules for staff, banning metric measurements and ordering men to be addressed as �������esquire.������� A memo for staff of Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg published Friday, July 26 says men without aristocratic titles should get the suffix �������Esq.������� in correspondence. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, file)
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The new leader of Britain's House of Commons has issued a painstaking list of grammar and etiquette rules for his staff.

A memo for employees in Jacob Rees-Mogg's office directs them to avoid using words such as "very," ''hopefully" and "got," and to address men with the courtesy title "esquire".

Conservative Party lawmaker Rees-Mogg is nicknamed "the honorable member for the 18th century" because of his formal dress, ornate rhetoric and conservative views.

The list, published on Friday by ITV News, advises staff to "use Imperial measurements", put a double space after periods and to put the "Esq." after the names of non-aristocratic men in correspondence.

Mr Rees-Mogg's office says the list was written several years ago by his local staff and shared with the new staff after Prime Minister Boris Johnson named him Commons leader on Wednesday.

Other banned words and phrases include "ascertain", "speculate" and "no longer fit for purpose".