More than 20,000 people have put their names to a petition started by a Gillingham man to get a Conservative MP to run for party leader.

Sam Frost, 23, set up the Ready for Rees-Mogg Facebook page, with his friend Anne Sutherland, after the general election left him "disappointed".

Overnight, the group attracted 2,000 likes and £7,000 has since been raised towards the campaign to get Jacob Rees-Mogg to run for the leadership.

He told the Medway Messenger: “I floated the idea to a friend of mine after the general election.

"We were fed up with politicians who never answer questions and so started the page.

“We were just doing it for a bit of fun but it has really taken off.”

The MP for North East Somerset became an internet sensation after posting a picture of himself and his son outside a tattoo parlour next to a Labour poster with the caption: "We shall have to take our business elsewhere".

The post has 6,284 likes on Instagram and sparked #MoggMentum with pictures being posted on social media of some of Mr Rees-Mogg’s best quotes from parliament.

The petition calling for him to run for party leader has now gained 23,432 signatures.

Mr Rees-Mogg is said to have been reading the Financial Times reader at the age of 12 and attended shareholder meetings of the companies he had invested in.

Sam is yet to hear from the man himself but the former Gad’s Hill pupil is hoping he will put his name down for the running, should the occasion arise.

He said: “We haven’t heard from him yet but he wrote a piece in The Telegraph saying he would not run and then outlined the policies he would have if he did.

“We think he would be a great leader. He’s able to give straight answers to straight questions. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and he’s a bit eccentric.

“He’s posh and, while other MPs do their best to hide that, he is who he is and doesn’t care. But he also has a bunch of serious policies.”

“We’re laying the ground works for him to run for leader.”

Search for Ready for Rees-Mogg on Facebook to find out more.