National MP Sam Uffindell says he's not the same person he was 20-odd years ago after his involvement as a teenager in an assault on a younger student came to light.
"I was a bully at school and I'm not proud of it," he said in a stand-up this morning.
On Monday it was revealed that Uffindell was kicked out of his boarding school as a 16-year-old for beating a younger student.
He said he punched a 13-year-old boy in the arm and body "multiple times" when he was a student at King's College, and was asked to leave the school the following day, at the end of his fifth form year.
It was a significant moment in his life that had a strong impact on him, he says, and he doesn't really like the person that he was at the time.
"The last 24 hours have been awful, frankly, really upsetting for everyone, my family, and you know what? They're self-inflicted because this is something that I've done and I accept that and I take ownership of it."
He said he had grown a lot as an adult and reached out to the victim to apologise, and it was genuine.
"I spent a lot of time as I became an adult and matured mentally and got married and subsequently had children, you know, thinking about what their life would be and my example that I set - I reached out to the person involved, and gave an apology and it was sincere at the time and it remains sincere today."
He also apologised to any others who he had hurt while at school.
"There will be other people as well at high school that I have hurt one way or another and for those people as well I just want to apologise for that. I'm not proud of it at all and I've reflected on it a lot."
Sam Uffindell Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
"I'm a long way from that person that I was 20-odd years ago."
Other incidents may have included tackling or hitting some people, and name calling, he said.
"I was still a teenager who wasn't a great person but I was learning my lessons... I don't blame Kings at all, it's for me to own."
"I think anyone can change, I think people can change... I think I just matured and developed empathy, which I didn't really have as a teenager."
He said the last 24 hours had been upsetting for himself and his family.
"Awful, frankly, really upsetting for everyone, my family, and you know what? They're self-inflicted because this is something that I've done and I accept that and I take ownership of it."
He said he reflected on the incident over the years and wanted to atone for it when he returned to New Zealand.
"It had a significant bearing on my life and changed the direction of it a fair bit, and obviously it had an emotional and physical impact on that person as well ... part of being a mature adult I'm able to empathise now."
He acknowledged the assault was unlawful.
"Look, I was a 16-year-old, and I made a big mistake, you know. I've got young children and one day they will be at school and if stuff like this happens I will be very upset."
He said the school acted appropriately in asking him to leave.
Earlier this morning, Uffindell told RNZ there was "rough and tumble" when at the boarding school but the attack on a student was the most serious incident he was involved in "by a long way".
Uffindell apologised to the victim last year, nine months before he announced his candidacy in the Tauranga by-election, but said in his interview on Morning Report there was no link with wanting to launch his political career.
King's College confident about its processes
King's College has clear policies regarding students' behaviour and they made it clear breaches of major school rules would not be tolerated, headmaster Simon Lamb said in a statement.
Those rules covered harassment and gross misconduct.
"We have confidence in our disciplinary and pastoral care processes and we are clear in our messaging to the whole community that it is every student's right to feel safe at school," Lamb said.
He pointed out that the bullying revealed by Sam Uffindell in the last 24 hours was dealt with by the college 22 years ago.
The issue first publicised in an article on Stuff had not involved the school in any follow-up activity with those involved, Lamb said.
Uffindell said the school acted appropriately in asking him to leave.
While he was not formally expelled, the nature of his departure from Kings was passed on to his next school.
"I was asked to leave, but I mean there was very little room for me," he says.