A former UKIP parliamentary hopeful branded a mother a “nasty spoilt brat” after she cancelled her 10-year-old son’s piano lessons with him, the Bucks Free Press has learned.

David Meacock, who ran against Steve Baker to become Wycombe MP earlier this year and came third with 5,198 votes, has been teaching piano for over 30 years.

The former Tory defected to UKIP in 2013, and was also a councillor at Bucks County Council until 2009 and Chiltern District Council for Chalfont Common until he lost his seat in May of this year.

The dispute occurred over a fee which Gerrards Cross resident Nisa Ali was contractually obliged to pay following a cancellation of her son Ibrahim’s lessons.

As part of an email exchange with Mrs Ali on October 25 seen by the BFP, Mr Meacock said: “Your disgraceful comments about me are beneath contempt and only serve to further show what sort of a nasty little spoilt brat, full of vile you really are.”

He ends the email: “I feel sorry that Ibrahim has lost a good teacher with whom he made far better progress than before, but unfortunately for him nobody can chose their parents.”

The piano teaching contract from Mr Meacock included provisions that his students will not perform in public without his permission, to “protect” his reputation.

After nine and a half months of Mr Meacock’s teaching time, her son Ibrahim had yet to be entered for a grade one exam.

She told the BFP: “I feel like I am being belittled. He was treating me like I was another councillor. How is he allowed to teach kids?”

Mr Meacock – who described his response as “measured” and “harmless” – said he was responding to “personal insults” made by Mrs Ali, but did not specify the exact nature of the comments.

However, in one email exchange seen by the BFP, Mrs Ali referred to the former councillor as an “nasty, ugly man”.

Mr Meacock has responded to Mrs Ali’s claims with the following statement: “If, unlike Mrs Ali, I were ending one of my family’s activities, reasonably as is commonplace requiring a term’s notice, then as a matter of personal honour and dignity, as well as respect for a teacher I had considered to be “amazing” (as Mrs Ali described me) and with whom I had been so happy with for nearly a year, that I had requested double length lessons during all holidays, I would pay financial liabilities in full, without question.

“I would certainly not, as Mrs Ali has done, publicly degrade myself by misrepresenting my previous praise of successful teaching by initiating a bombardment of unfounded personal insults in response to being politely reminded of the terms of a reasonable contract which I had voluntarily signed.

“Mrs Ali’s untrustworthy, unsurprising but disappointing continuation of the monetary dispute over her son’s piano lessons by publicising it, is a hostile and clear breach of the terms of my goodwill acceptance of her financial offer to immediately end the dispute between us. “This attack surely only further justifies my feelings of being victimised, aggrieved and upset at her disgraceful treatment of me.”

Mr Meacock added: “Those of us who have in the past been elected to, or stood for public office are surely just as entitled as anyone else to freedom of speech, including the use of strong but harmless metaphors and responding robustly to others, such as Mrs Ali, initiating unfounded insults about me and my family and thereby misrepresenting her own former utterances in praise of my success with her son in increasing his understanding and enjoyment of music.

“So, I don’t really see why this mole hill is being turned into such a mountain.”

 

  •  A previous version of this article stated that the piano tuition had continued for 18 months. The period in question was nine and a half months.