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Alexander Armstrong has ruffled feathers after claiming he is “extremely poor” following Keir Starmer’s decision to apply VAT to private school fees.
The Pointless presenter, who is estimated to have a net worth in the millions descends from a landowning family, boasting Barons, industrialists and aristocrats in his lineage and among his family’s connections.
Armstrong has now said he is feeling the pinch after Starmer announced tax on private schools in an attempt to “drive up standards” for the majority who cannot afford surging fees in the independent sector.
“I’m feeling really, really angry about that, and extremely poor,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. “In our case, private school is the only place available for our children to learn music.”
Armstrong hit out at the negative stigma surrounding private schools, adding: “Our 10-year-old has special educational needs. He couldn’t survive in the state system. We have chosen that, not because we’re evil, and not because we want to buy a head-start for our children, but we want them to have as good an education as we can get.
“There’s a real anger towards private schools from some quarters and I find that so antithetical to everything I believe about society.
Armstrong continued: “There was something really vituperative about [Starmer] bringing it in in the middle of the school year. I loathe tribal politics. I’m allergic to it from the Right and scared of it from the Left. It felt really unpleasant and nasty.”
However, the presenter has raised eyebrows with the claim he has been left “extremely poor” – especially as, according to The Telegraph, it was suggested the presenter could earn up to £20,000 per episode of Pointless.
The BBC show airs five days a week.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Armstrong for comment.
“I’m just a poor boy, from a poor family, spare me my life, from this school VAT,” said one person.
“Just 10p a day can help millionaire Alexander Armstrong send his kids to public school, while yours have to share 10 year old iPhone to do their homework,” scathed another. “Please, please give as much as you can to help lift him out of grinding poverty.”
Loyal fans were left disappointed writing: “I don’t know Alexander Armstrong but have always liked his public persona and generally find Armstrong & Miller sketches extremely funny.
“I think it’s a real shame when you discover that someone whose work you enjoy in that way turns out to be completely out of touch with reality”.
Others hit out at the presenter for “whining”, sarcastically adding: “I started a Go Fund Me after millionaire Alexander Armstrong claimed he was poor.”
Last year, Armstrong told The Independent: “People are forgiving of most backgrounds so long as you’re not entitled or tedious” about privilege.
