‘Sorry you were out when I visited,” read the note from Jacob Rees-Mogg, left on the desk of an unnamed civil servant. “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon. With every good wish,” etcetera.
He’s been accused of passive aggression, of course, but some phrases just aren’t big enough for the world of feelings they connote, and this is one of them. “Passive aggression” sounds like such a simple thing – conveying anger or hostility through means other than confrontation, such as avoidance, obstructiveness, sarcasm, procrastination, persistent forgetting or, in transport settings particularly, muttering. You think you understand it, then you get to the workplace note, and realise you haven’t even scratched the surface.
