LABOUR’S John McDonnell has been accused of covering-up his privileged past at a top private school that now costs 36,000 per pupil a year.
The die-hard socialist, who has publicly called for private schools to be abolished, attended posh St Josephs College in Ipswich in the late 1960s.
He even appeared in the schools 2017 prospectus as an alumni, alongside the caption, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015.
Yet he makes no mention of his links to the school in speeches or biographical entries and is listed only as attending Great Yarmouth Grammar School.
According to Mail Online, pupils who attended the posh school are locally known as Holy Joes.
Alumini are also referred to as Old Birkfeldians – after Birkfeld House, a mansion built for a Hanoverian prince, upon which the school was set-up in 1937.
Former pupils include earls, ambassadors and captains of history.
But the MP refers to the school as “De La Salle College”, a name used for many schools around the UK, including a comprehensive in Basildon, Essex.
And at the 2015 Labour conference, McDonnell told delegates that he’d “worked hard” but found the grammar school system “appalling”.
A year later, he said of grammar schools: “McDonnell said: “I resented leaving friends behind. At the age of 11, large numbers of people were classified as failures even though they were extremely bright and talented.
“That was why I was so in favour of a comprehensive education and opportunities for everybody.”
‘PRIEST TRAINING’
He spoke about studying for A-levels at the grammar school, but left aged 17 because he was “too busy doing other things”.
Sun Online was the first to report that McDonnell had attended St Joseph’s “prep school”.
A Labour spokesman said at the time: “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.”
However, a conservative candidate in his Hayes and Harlington seat then blasted him as a stinking hypocrite.
Greg Smith said: Yet again John McDonnells 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.
It comes after McDonnell last week admitted that everyone will have to pay more tax under Labour.
Despite Labour figures insisting that only the top five per cent of earners will pay more, he was forced to admit that many of the party’s policies will affect the entire population.
