My haven, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Cabinet Minister, 52, in the library of his 17th-century country house

1. GATHERING OF THE CLAN

It’s rare to have a photo of me with all six of my children, plus my wife Helena [centre, next to Jacob] and our nanny Veronica [dressed in blue], as normally one of us is taking the picture.

Having a big family has brought me great happiness but has its complications: we don’t have a car that fits us all so we need two vehicles if we go somewhere, and it’s no fun trying to take six children through an airport!

Nanny brought me up and will be 80 this year but has no plans to retire.

Or, I hope not – I don’t know what we’d do without her.  

2. A MODEL MAN

I had to get this bust of William Pitt the Younger when I saw it in a shop.

He became prime minister aged 24 and, with the help of Nelson and Wellington, beat Napoleon. 

Pitt is a hero who deserves more recognition for leading his country in its hour of need. Sadly, his doctor’s advice to drink a bottle of port a day did him no good, though.

3. HOUND MOGG  

My daughter Mary had been asking for a dog for years.

My role as a father is to do everything I’m told to by my children – and my only daughter has a particular ability to get her father to do things she wants done.

So we finally gave Mary a cocker spaniel [pictured with Jacob] as a Christmas present.

Daisy, now two, is an absolute sweetheart, and though I’m not a great one for exercise – except during election campaigns – she has got me walking in the Somerset hills.

4. MOST A-MOO-SING  

I’ve long been a fan of PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves And Wooster stories.

In one of them, Bertie inadvertently steals a cow creamer, walking out of a shop with it by mistake, so I was delighted to chance upon this silver cow creamer in a shop in London’s Mayfair.

I don’t use it very much because the tail is the handle and so it’s rather delicate. When I travelled a lot for business prior to entering Parliament, I’d always have a Wodehouse novel with me to help pass the time.

5. GOOD EGGS  

I love chocolate cream eggs – my default lunch prior to Easter will be a sandwich and a cream egg for pudding.

Have I Got News For You got me to appear on the show after sending me a box of them and, ever since, people have been giving me cream eggs.

I’ve never needed to worry about my weight, though I’m not as thin as I was in my 20s.

At the state opening of Parliament in 2019, I wore my old school tailcoat and waistcoat which I thought wasn’t bad going.

6. PRESENT FROM THE PAST  

This lovely bracelet, braided from the hair of Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington’s mount at Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated once and for all, was given to me by my wife Helena last Christmas.

Wellington needed a mighty beast of burden that could carry him during the battle, so one could argue that Copenhagen played an important role in this historic victory that saved Europe from Napoleon’s despotism.

I’ve always been interested in things that link you back physically to the past.