Nick Clegg has sent his youngest son to a £22,530-a-year private school, despite heavily criticising private education while he was Deputy Prime Minister.
The Cleggs have recently moved back to the UK from California - where Sir Nick has been working for Facebook owners Meta.
Since returning, the Sunday Mirror understands they’ve sent youngest son Miguel, 13, to post Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.
But in 2012, Sir Nick said the “rift” between private and state education was “corrosive for our society and damaging to our economy.”
Sir Nick himself attended fee-paying Westminster School in central London, and sent his eldest son, Antonio, 20 - to a Catholic fee-paying institution that cost £34,500 - more than Eton College.
In a 2014 interview, Sir Nick’s wife, Miriam Gonzalez-Durantes said she saw no reason to move their three sons into private education.
“As far as I know they will always go to state school,” she said. Scoffing at the idea that posh schools like Eton breed the leaders of the future, she told the Telegraph: “This is the 21st century. You cannot buy your place into the elite. You have to earn it. There is not a shortcut.
“Whether you are at Eton, or [a state school in] Islington, You have to work — you cannot bluff forever.”
The Lib Dems have joined Labour in pledging to scrap the tax exempt status enjoyed by posh private schools in the UK.
But Rishi Sunak has resisted calls to make fee-paying schools cough up £1.7 billion a year in VAT, with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt claiming such a plan would be “ideological”.
Former Latymer pupils include Hugh Grant, Lily Cole, Alan Rickman, Heston Blumenthal, Allegra Stratton and GMTV’s Dr Hilary Jones.
Labour MP Andy Slaughter and former MP Keith Vaz also attended the school - as did two members of the rock band White Lies.
Established in 1624, the school only opened the doors of its sixth-form to girls in 1996 - with the rest of the school becoming co-educational in 2004.
It was founded by merchant Edward Latymer, who left in his will some money for the clothing and education of “eight poore boyes” from Hammersmith.
It became fully fee-paying in 1975 - but has around 170 pupils on means-tested bursaries.
The school is highly selective - and accepts less than 10% of applicants.
