Socialist John McDonnell branded a hypocrite as it emerges he went to £12,000-a-year prep school
Labour Shadow Chancellor has publicly called for private schools to be abolished, having hidden his own past posh links
SHADOW Chancellor John McDonnell spent two years at a £12,000-a-year prep school, The Sun can reveal.
The die-hard socialist, who has publicly called for private schools to be abolished, attended posh St Joseph’s College in Ipswich in the late 1960s.
Mr McDonnell even appears in the school’s prospectus as an alumni, alongside the caption, “Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015”.
Yet the 65-year-old makes no mention of his links to the school in speeches or biographical entries and is listed only as attending Great Yarmouth Grammar School.
The Conservative candidate in his Hayes and Harlington seat blasted him as a “stinking hypocrite.”
Greg Smith said: “Yet again John McDonnell’s past is coming back to haunt him - whatever next?
“Why can he never just be open and honest about his background?
“John McDonnell is trying to pull the ladder up for kids today despite his own privileged education.”
Mr McDonnell’s stint at the school appears to be at odds with his calls for private schools to be abolished and his promises to review “their privileged position”.
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Speaking to teachers at the NUT conference just weeks ago he said: “Education is not a commodity that can be bought or sold.”
He spoke of his student days “wearing flares, an army surplus great coat, rode a motorbike and had brown hair down to my shoulders”.
Referring to grammar schools in the same speech he added: “All the evidence tells us that segregation in education fails. It fails to tackle the issues of social mobility.”
In February, on the BBC’s Any Questions, he agreed that public schools should pay VAT on fees and lose their charitable status.
He replied: “They have a privileged position that drains the education system. They should have to pay VAT.
“Over the next years we will be looking at their privileged position. There will be a review.”
Mr McDonnell, whose daughter is a teacher, told another union conference in 2012: “If public schools are the problem, why not abolish them?”
Earlier this month, he also gave his backing to plans for a free school run by a Sikh temple in his constituency, despite his party pledging to scrap the free school initiative.
His party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, also went to a fee-paying prep school, while several shadow ministers have sent their children to private or selective schools.
Last night, a Labour spokesman said: "John attended the school for two years on a church grant at the start of his training to become a catholic priest. However, John decided against the priesthood and left the school forthwith.";