James McAlpine, a 22-year-old Oxford Brookes University student standing at 7ft 2in, has become an unlikely star of the Conservative Party Conference after being photographed towering over party leader Kemi Badenoch, who is 5ft 4in. McAlpine, who hopes to become an MP, has spoken about the bullying he endured at school due to his extreme height.
McAlpine told the Daily Mail that he was a target for bullies at his state secondary school, experiencing name-calling, kicks, punches, and even having pencils stabbed into him. He described the period as “horrible” and “brutal”, adding that the school did nothing to address the bullying. During this time, he prayed that he would stop growing.
After a year and a half, his parents Duncan and Vanessa funded his transfer to the private Clifton Hall School. His late father, who was 6ft 9in, died of pancreatic cancer in 2021. His mother Vanessa is approximately 6ft 5in, and they now live in Edinburgh.
Nowadays, McAlpine says most people are harmless in their curiosity, but he still encounters men with “Small Man Syndrome” who try to take him down. He prefers to walk away from such situations. He is studying business management and aims to work in the City before pursuing a political career.
If he becomes an MP, McAlpine would break the Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest politician, currently held by 6ft 10in Jon Godfread in the US. He described Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Kemi Badenoch as “political giants”, praising Badenoch for uniting the party.
