Thatcher death cheers clap the NUS further out of touch

“This is a day I’ll never forget, and if you look at the news headlines you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

These were the words of the NUS Chief Returning Officer speaking at today’s NUS National Conference just minutes after news of Margaret Thatcher’s death became public. They were greeted with applause from an audience of the country’s most senior student politicians.

Aside from the disrespect this displays from many people who should know better, the lack of thought for family and friends of a woman who, despite her “Iron Lady” nickname, was still a human being, the reaction of these students only serves to further damage the reputation of an already ailing union.

YUSU President Kallum Taylor spoke of how he felt “alienated” by the applause, whilst NUS President Liam Burns stated after the event that it “would reflect extremely badly upon us if we were to show disrespect at this time.”

However, the damage had already been done. The cheers created a Twitter storm within the already roaring tempest that had been inevitably whipped up by Thatcher’s death, and within a couple of hours the news of the reactions had made it to the Guardian’s live blog of the conference.

Taylor could not have picked a more perfect word than “alienated”, though perhaps not for the reasons he intended – a large portion of the student population already feel alienated by the NUS – the way they were heckled off stage at the National Demo and the popularity of the Inanimate Carbon Rod for NUS President Campaign has confirmed this. Such vocal condemnation of such a divisive figure as Thatcher, especially at the inflammatory time of her death, will only serve to enhance this.

Student politics tend to be dominated by the left, this is understandable. However, representatives are supposed to represent all students, not just one political branch. All too often we find them seeming to forget this and instead using their power to give extra weight to their own opinions, and worse, to further their individual careers.

This is highlighted in Burns’ response to the applause, which was not really a response at all, rather a generic and carefully crafted statement that did not address the conference’s reaction directly, but merely sat himself in a position from which he is made immune to any personal criticism regarding the events.

In the statement, before saying anything else, Burns still felt the need to make it very clear that he was “the last person to agree with Margaret Thatcher’s politics or her policy record as prime minister” – indeed his dislike for Thatcher was the only thing of concrete to come out of what he said. To put the statement into plainer English, he basically told the conference floor: “Look, I know you guys all hate Thatcher, but please try not to say too much about it right now, you’ll make us all look bad.”

And by “look bad” what he would really mean is “look like ourselves.”

This whole ugly debacle has only further confirmed that to succeed as an organisation the NUS simply must get back in touch with its student body. For starters, votes in its elections should be open to all students, not just a handful or delegates – how can they possibly get the bigger picture if they are essentially listening only to the views of a like-minded clique?

At risk of speaking for a fair portion of the country, I feel it’s fair to argue that the majority of students would feel cheering the death of a former Prime Minister, indeed one adored by many, including students, is inappropriate. Perhaps this is a sign that the NUS should start listening to them on other issues too.