US election 2012: Mitt Romney 'pushed sons' faces into plates of butter'

Mitt Romney's sons have described their father's taste for aggressive horseplay, explaining how he enjoyed pushing their heads into plates of butter and wrestling them as children.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (C) speaks during his primary night rally with members of his family, (L-R) Matt, Tagg, Craig, wife Ann, Ben and Josh Romney
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (C) speaks during his primary night rally with members of his family, (L-R) Matt, Tagg, Craig, wife Ann, Ben and Josh Romney Credit: Photo: GETTY

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.

The Romney campaign was earlier rocked by allegations made by five of the candidate's former classmates at the elite Cranbrook School, who claimed that as a teenager Mr Romney led a schoolyard gang that pinned down a gay classmate and slashed off his bleach-blonde fringe in a "vicious" attack.

The Republican said he did not remember the incident but added: "If I did stupid things, why, I'm afraid I've got to say sorry for it."

Many American voters were also shocked to learn that Mr Romney once put the family dog in a cage and tied it to the roof of his car during a 12-hour drive from Massachusetts to Canada. When Seamus, an Irish setter, defecated down the rear window, Mr Romney hosed him off at a petrol station and put him back on the roof.

The Romney sons also revealed that they had tried to persuade their father not to make a second run for the White House, knowing it would bring their young families under fresh scrutiny.

Matt Romney said: "I was really reluctant. I didn't want him to do it. I tried to convince him not to. I think there were a few of us who tried that. I just felt like, for us as a family, this isn't the best thing. But, as Josh said, for the country we think it's the right thing."