Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has indicated that he may send his children to a leading Catholic secondary school, despite having declared himself an atheist.

Mr Clegg, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrat party, and who has spoken of his opposition to faith schools, is understood to have toured the London Oratory, the school to which Tony Blair sent his sons.

The Liberal Democrats’ election manifesto said that party policy was to force faith schools to admit pupils of all faiths and none, and to hire teachers whose lifestyles might be in conflict with the faith of the school.

Last year, Mr Clegg said that children attending faith schools should be taught that homosexuality is “normal and harmless”.

In an interview with with Attitude magazine Mr Clegg said: “Crucially faith schools should have a requirement to have an anti-homophobic bullying policy at their school.”

The Oratory is one of the most sought-after schools in the country and Mr Clegg is considering sending his three sons there even though there are several secondaries, including a Catholic one, closer to his home in Putney, south west London.

He dismissed claims that his atheism was an issue, pointing out that his wife, Miriam, and her family are Catholic.

“I’ve never made my kids an issue in politics,” he said. “My kids are more precious to me than anything else in the world and the fact [is] that my wife is Catholic, I married in the Catholic church and my children have been brought up by Catholics and go to a Catholic state primary school.

“It therefore shouldn’t be entirely surprising that maybe, maybe just maybe, my wife might consider, we might consider as parents sending our children on to a state-funded Catholic secondary school.”

It is believed that the Cleggs are overlooking John Paul II School which is closer to their home while the Oratory is three miles away. John Paul II is ranked as “satisfactory” by Ofsted, but the Oratory is labelled “outstanding” and sends more pupils to Oxford and Cambridge than almost any other state-funded school.

Greg Hands, the Tory MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, backed Mr Clegg. He wrote on Twitter: “The London Oratory in my constituency is a brilliant place, academic and cultural.”