Ed Miliband called me a Turkish b******... so I hit him: Former schoolmate claims racist abuse was real reason Labour leader was beaten up
By Stephanie CondronLast updated at 1:45 AM on 6th February 2011
A man who was at school with Ed Miliband has revealed how he hit the now Labour Leader in the playground for allegedly calling him a ‘Turkish b*****d’.
Kevin Mustafa decided to speak out after Mr Miliband described his schooldays at his ‘tough’ comprehensive in an interview last week.
The politician said he had been on the receiving end of blows at Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, North London, yet refused to name his tormentors.
Enemies reunited: Kevin Mustafa, pictured with a friend, said he hit Ed Miliband
He said: ‘We had a bit of a ruck in 1984 in the playground. I just lost my rag that day. He was a very opinionated person back then. I am not proud.’
Mr Mustafa, 40, who is now a gardener, was one of Mr Miliband’s classmates from 1981 to 1986.
School days: A young Ed Miliband
‘He called me a Turkish b*****d so I hit him. I gave my reasons as to why I did it but was dismissed and I was suspended for three days.’
Recalling their school days, Mr Mustafa, from Barnet, North London, claimed the young Ed Miliband ‘was a very stuck-up person looking down his nose at everybody’.
He added: ‘He was not a friend of mine but we sat in the same class. Although he was no better than us he had quite a high opinion of himself. He tried to come across as if he was more intelligent. Most of the time we let it pass but I lost my rag that day.’
In his interview with Piers Morgan for GQ magazine, Mr Miliband, who described himself as a ‘square’ who had loved playing with his Rubik’s Cube, was keen to draw a distinction between his state school upbringing and that of Old Etonian David Cameron.
Asked whether he considers himself posh, he replied: ‘I was brought up in a middle-class home but my parents were refugees and I went to a comprehensive school, so not that posh, no.’
His family home in Primrose Hill was one of the foremost Left-wing salons of the Seventies and Eighties, where politicians and academics attended dinner parties given by his father Ralph, a leading intellectual and professor of politics.
Other contemporaries of Mr Miliband at Haverstock School have told how playground scraps were common occurrences, and said gangs from other schools would often come to the gates looking for a fight.
Socratis Socratous, who studied A-level maths alongside Mr Miliband in the sixth form, echoed the Labour leader’s description of the school he attended with his older brother David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary.
Class war: Ed Miliband recalled he experienced a tough education at Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, North London, in the Eighties
He added: ‘Both Ed and David were genuinely really good guys and were ultra-intelligent. If it were not for Ed I would not have passed my maths A-level.
‘The teacher was c**p. Ed used to give me his homework. From copying his homework I learnt the process and passed my exams.’
Another schoolmate, Rik Henderson, said the young Ed was not a target for the bullies, but he did remember him having ‘geeky’ interests, including an enthusiasm for the fantasy board game Dungeons & Dragons and the ZX Spectrum home computer. He also said Mr Miliband had reviewed video games on the radio during his time at the school.
'Square': Ed used his language skills against the bullies
‘He was sensible and while everyone was messing about at the back of class he used to sit at the front and listen to the teacher.’
Other fellow pupils also described the future Opposition leader as diligent and conscientious.
Former pupil Andy Adebowale said: ‘Ed used to hang around with the geek crowd.
‘I remember David was not meek. He was quite a strong personality and Ed was the same. They could use their language skills as a shield against the bullies. It was the kids who were isolated who got bullied.’
Some 60 different nationalities were represented at Haverstock in the Eighties, when exam results were consistently above the national average. Both Ed and David Miliband went on to Oxford University.
Other Haverstock alumni include England footballer Joe Cole, Labour peer Oona King and members of the hip-hop group N-Dubz.
David Miliband, 45, is now working as a volunteer part-time teacher at Haverstock. He gave his first lesson on Thursday, teaching politics to a class in the sixth form.
Nikki Haydon, who taught English at the school when Ed and David were pupils, took issue with the Labour leader’s claims, saying: ‘I think it was a bit unfair of Ed to say it was a rough school.’
But she applauded his older brother’s return. She said: ‘David’s coming back to teach every two weeks. It’s very good for the kids.
‘It’s great in terms of opportunity for them and David volunteered to do it. The idea came from him.
‘Both he and Ed have come back to the school over the years.’
A spokesman for Ed Miliband declined to comment.
Explore more:
- People:
- Ed Miliband,
- Joe Cole,
- Piers Morgan,
- David Miliband,
- David Cameron
- Places:
- London,
- United Kingdom
- Organisations:
- Oxford University
Kate Middleton LooksDiscover Kate Middleton's Glamorous Transformation. Full Photo Gallery!handbag.com/Kate-Middleton
Lasting Knee Pain ReliefClinically Proven for Relief of Knee Pain & Improved Functionwww.apostreatment.co.uk/knee
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354152/Early-failure-multi-culturalism-The-day-Ed-Miliband-called-Turkish-b--.html#ixzz1D8n2MkHc
No comments:
Post a Comment