Wes Streeting
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Wesley Paul William Streeting (born January 21, 1983, Tower Hamlets) is the President of the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS). He was the NUS Vice-President (Education) for 2006 to 2008, and a member of its National Executive Committee for one year prior to taking up that post.
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[edit] Early life
A graduate of the University of Cambridge, he served as President of the Cambridge University Students' Union during 2004-5. He read History at Selwyn College, Cambridge where he was JCR president.
[edit] NUS President
Streeting was elected as NUS President in April of 2008 as a candidate of Labour Students. He beat his closest rival Ciarán Norris, an independent candidate, in the fourth round of voting by 496 votes to 376 after the elimination of Daniel Randall, the Education Not for Sale candidate and the NUS Black Students' Officer, Ruqayyah Collector, who stood as a candidate of the Student Broad Left.
As Vice-President of NUS, Streeting was a strong proponent of his predecessor Gemma Tumelty's proposed reforms to the NUS governance structures, which had been denounced and narrowly defeated by many left wing groups in NUS as an attack on NUS democracy[1], as well as the leading figure in efforts to change the NUS' position on higher education funding in advance of the Government's 2009 review of top-up fees in England[2]. His election was reported by the The Guardian newspaper as 'a move that will lend weight to the fight to modernise the union'[3].
His membership of Labour Students and strong support for the Labour Party have led to charges by Streeting's opponents that he is too close to the Brown government[4], though Streeting cites his opposition to unpopular Labour policies like top-up fees and the Iraq war as evidence of his independence[5]. He is a member of the Labour Students' National Committee.
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gemma Tumelty |
President of the National Union of Students 2008-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
