Anti-public school Labour firebrand John McDonnell gave a secret talk to students…at an exclusive private school
The Shadow Chancellor has previously stated that education must never 'be bought or sold' and suggested in 2012 that private schools should be abolished
HARD-LEFT John McDonnell gave a secret talk to the £38,000 per year Millfield School yesterday — despite calling for exclusive private schools to be abolished.
The Sun can reveal the Shadow Chancellor addressed students at the posh Somerset establishment that is attended by his relatives.
The diehard socialist’s appearance came despite his previous claims that education must never “be bought or sold".
In 2012 he used a speech to the PCS Union to hit out: “If public schools are the problem, why not abolish them?”
And he further risked being branded a hypocrite after saying last year: “All the evidence tells us that segregation in education fails. It fails to tackle the issues of social mobility.”
He also told a teachers conference: “Education is a gift, it is not a commodity to be bought or sold.”
The firebrand has also backed calls for private schools to lose their charitable status, telling the BBC in February 2017: “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.”
Earlier this month Mr McDonnell revealed that his brother in law educates his children at Millfield, where fees for boarding hit an eyewatering £12,870 per term.
He told the HuffPost: “My brother in law, who is Kenyan, sends his children to Millfield – against all my advice.”
During last year’s Election it was revealed by The Sun that Mr McDonnell had also been educated for two years at a private school.
But he insisted he had been on a “church grant” to attend St Joseph’s College in Ipswich in the late 1960s.