Reply #128

The Republican presidential candidate dispatched his five adult sons onto a late night television show where they jokingly told stories of their father's pranks in an effort to humanise the former businessman who critics accuse of being boring.

But the light-hearted anecdotes carried an uncomfortable echo of earlier allegations that Mr Romney had been a bully while at prep school and has a long history of uncaring behaviour.

Matt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor's second son, told how his father would present his children with a stick of butter, telling them "it's so rotten you have to smell it". When they leaned down he would gleefully shove their faces into the plate.

Mr Romney apparently repeated the trick recently with one of his grandsons, pushing the shocked child's head into a platter of whipped cream.

During the rare joint appearance by all five sons on Conan O'Brien's talk show, Josh Romney told how he once ambushed his father in a darkened basement as Mr Romney groped for the light switch.

The startled private equity boss responded by tackling him to the ground and wrestling him on the floor.

"He does like pranks but he doesn't like to get pranked. We've learned that the hard way," Josh said.