Visitors to Paul Patrick's office were often taken aback to discover the wide range of communist and socialist memorabilia on display.

"When you stepped into his school office all of his pictures around the walls were of Lenin leading the troops and revolutionary socialist iconography," a frequent acquaintance told the Standard.

"But this didn't concern the parents because he was an incredibly successful headteacher."

Nobody was complaining about the links he forged with Cuba - not least because Mr Patrick transformed the fortunes of Cardinal Wiseman School in Greenford.

He is described as a "brilliant" and "inspirational" head, so much so that he was invited to Highgrove to discuss education with Prince Charles in 2002.

In an interview with the Tablet, the Catholic magazine, he said that on taking over the school in 1997 - he was previously a head at two other schools - he went about establishing its reputation by clearing the school of "burnt out" teachers and excluding 12 boys identified as key troublemakers.

"We were utterly ruthless with them," he told the Tablet. "Those boys were bullying and thought they ran the school."

The magazine described him as a "distinctive figure in his sharp suit and sunglasses".

Born in Northern Ireland to a Catholic mother and a Protestant father - his grandfather was master of the local Orange lodge - Mr Patrick moved from the province to Britain early in his life.

He has spoke about his belief in "liberation theology", a stream of thinking linking Marxism and Catholic belief which emerged in the Sixties and remains particularly prominent in Latin America.

Mr Patrick also backed George Galloway's Respect party in the 2007 Ealing Southall by-election, saying: "I believe in peace, equality and justice - so does Respect.

"Other parties have lost my trust on these important principles. I think we should give Respect a chance."

He married Denise, a primary school headteacher of Afro-Caribbean descent, in 1977 in Haringey.

Their two children were born in Islington in the early Eighties.

In interviews he has complained of his son being stopped 57 times in his car by police.

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