Britain’s tallest Tory has spoken of the bullying he suffered before becoming the unlikely star of last week’s Conservative Party Conference.
James McAlpine, 22, who stands at 7ft 2in, was pictured towering over his heroine the 5ft 4in leader Kemi Badenoch in Manchester.
Complete strangers ask the Oxford Brookes University student “what’s the weather like up there?” at least 20 times a day, he said of being the butt of jokes.
McAlpine told the Daily Mail his extreme height made him a target for bullies at a state secondary school.
“It was name-calling, then, you know, the odd sort of kick, the odd sort of punch,” he said.
“I’d get pencils stabbed in me. It was a horrible time for me, really. Brutal. And the school didn’t do anything about it.”
During the bullying, he recalls praying that he would stop growing.
After a year and a half, his parents Duncan and Vanessa found the funds to send him to private Clifton Hall School.
His late father, who was 6 ft 9ins, died in 2021 of pancreatic cancer.
He had been head gardener at 30,000 acre Dalmeny Estate – the country pile of the Earl and Countess of Rosebury, situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth.
McAlpine’s mother Vanessa is said to be about 6ft 5in and they now live in Edinburgh.
Nowadays, he says most people are harmless in their curiosity but admitted: “There are some – men especially – who have a known thing called Small Man Syndrome.
“They want to take other men down so they can be on their height level.
“But it doesn’t work with me. I’m not an aggressive person. When that happens, I try to walk away from it, mostly.”
He appeared tickled about the idea of one day being the tallest British Prime Minister.
McAlpine, who is studying business management, hopes to work in the City before pursuing a career in politics.
If his ambitions of becoming an MP - and maybe even leader - are realised, he would break the Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest politician, currently held by 6ft 10in Jon Godfread in the US.
McAlpine described Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron, Boris Johnson as real “political giants” along with “fantastic” Badenoch.
He added: “She’s confident. She’s got a good plan. There was so much infighting before she came along, but she’s managed to unite everyone.”
“I’d say I’m middle class,” McAlpine said when put on the spot about whether he’s a Toff and said of Clifton school: “I fitted in much better there, and the opportunities were better, too.”
