The day Red Ted dressed like Tory Boy: Picture emerges of Ed Miliband in gown and white tie when at Oxford University 

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This is Ed Miliband as an Oxford University student - when he was known as 'Red Ted' - looking more like a Tory member of the Bullingdon Club than a Labour leader in the making.

He has criticised David Cameron for his privileged background but in this new picture he is a wearing a white bow tie, suit and black gown - the reserve of the Oxbridge elite.

The picture was taken in 1989 when Mr Miliband was at Corpus Christi College studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) - the degree of choice at Westminster.

Labour leader in training: This is Ed Miliband in white bow tie and gown while studying at Oxford - probably in his first term in 1989

The picture, unearthed by BuzzFeed News, may have been taken in his first term at Oxford at Matriculation - the ceremony that marks your formal admission to the University

Students there have to wear a white bow-tie and gown for exams, and a mortar board to carry. Some colleges also make you wear a gown for dinner each night, and is called sub-fusc.

In a letter to a student newspaper, where he called himself Edward Miliband, chair of the university Labour club he attacked apathy at Oxford.

He wrote: 'Student apathy in Oxford and elsewhere will prevail until the government of the day convinces students that their will be heard, and not ignored, as it has been for the last eleven years.'

He also said the reason for the political disconnect with students was 'the unbroken reign of Margaret Thatcher'.

It came as footage of the Labour leader – who called himself 'Ted' – led a 'rent strike' when he was a student at Oxford University 24 years ago and was interviewed on television.

Mr Miliband organised a series of actions against the authorities during a campaign against rent rises and described the dispute as 'my best four weeks at university'.

He is interviewed in his grey jumper and sports a pudding bowl haircut, but the nasal drawl and stuttering delivery is unmistakeable. 

The clip, from the spring of 1991, went undiscovered in the archives of ITV Meridian because of Mr Miliband's name change, but was released last night.

'Ted' tells the reporter of his opposition to a 27 per cent increase in rents. 'People wouldn't get angry if it wasn't unaffordable and it clearly is an unaffordable rise,' he says.

The Labour leader was shown the clip during an interview on the programme yesterday and asked about his change of name.

'I was a Ted, I was a Ted, it feels like a long time ago, that's probably because it was a long time ago.'

Contrast: Labour leader Ed Miliband interviewed during a 'rent strike' he led at Oxford and right, today in Colne, Lancashire, on the campaign trail

He was inspired to follow a path into politics by his Marxist father Ralph, a philosopher and academic who spent a life pursuing the socialist cause and taught him about the power of politics

The millionaire Labour leader has long faced criticisms that he and clique of wealthy out-of-touch aides and MPs do not understand ordinary workers. 

Student: Mr Miliband, pictured at the Corpus Christi boathouse in 1989, is the same now as he was then, friends have said

He has also tried to show a clear distinction between himself and David Cameron's background, and his Eton and Oxford schooling. 

In one famous row in the Commons Mr Miliband defended Ed Balls, another Oxford PPE student, and admonished Mr Cameron by saying he was shocked the 'boy from the Bullingdon Club lectures people on bullying' and asked him if he had 'wrecked a restaurant recently'.

Yet he also enjoyed one of the best educations imaginable.

Mr Miliband and Boris Johnson went to the same Primrose Hill Primary before he went to Haverstock School in North London - reputedly one of the most high-flying comprehensives in the capital - and then known as the Eton of the Left.

Courses at Oxford and Harvard universities then followed. 

His family was decidedly prosperous, owning a large house in Camden, North London, as well as a cottage in Oxfordshire.

But The Mail revealed last month that the Labour leader had recently shunned his Oxford education. 

He had failed to respond to approaches from his Oxford college in the run-up to its 500th anniversary celebrations in 2017, despite their attempts to get him to attend.

By contrast Ed's elder brother, David, who attended the same college five years earlier, has reciprocated despite living in New York.  

Ed Miliband became a Labour Party and Government adviser after leaving Oxford. He later spent 18 months teaching at Harvard University

Mr Miliband became a key member of Gordon Brown's government after becoming an MP in 2005

David Cameron was an adviser to the former Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont (left) before becoming an MP

A contemporary, Marc Stears, one of Ed Miliband's oldest friends, has said the modern Miliband is 'exactly the same person he was as a 19-year-old'.

'Even then he knew that there was a worry he could be dubbed 'Red Ed' - except then it would have to have been 'Red Ted', because that's what he was known as. 

'He could also get down and dirty and make people's lives hell. He could walk between the two worlds of radicalism and real world.'

Miliband himself has insisted he had enough 'life experience' outside politics to lead the country and said this was because he had been an adviser to Gordon Brown. 

The Labour leader said roles in the Treasury and lecturing at Harvard University in the United States before he became an MP qualified him to be prime minister.

Mr Miliband highlighted his previous jobs as he took questions at from young voters today after being asked how he represented ordinary people.

He was asked: 'Outside of politics, what life experience do you have ... to indicate you should be the one to represent the people of Britain?'

Mr Milband, speaking at an Ask The Leaders session organised by Sky News and Facebook, replied: 'I've done a number of things which I think are relevant to this.

'I was obviously an economic adviser in the Treasury. I think that's important because the economy and how we change our economy is at the heart of the country.'

In the last Labour party political broadcast, Mr Miliband reflected on what his Marxist father Ralph (pictured) had taught him about the power of politics

He added: 'I taught at Harvard University. I actually taught around government and economics and I think that, actually, one of the things that that did for me (was learning) to listen and engage with people about what their issues are, what they're interested in.'

Mr Miliband went to Oxford University before working briefly as a researcher in the media, and then becoming a Labour Party researcher.

He was an adviser to Gordon Brown in the Treasury between 1997 and 2002, at which point he took an 18-month sabbatical to teach economics at Harvard. 

Mr Miliband returned to the Treasury until 2005, when he successfully stood for parliament in Doncaster North.

David Cameron also graduated from Oxford, before working as a Conservative Party researcher and adviser to the former chancellor Norman Lamont and former home secretary Michael Howard.

He then worked in PR for the television company Carlton before becoming an MP in 2001.