I'm going to come over all proud now.
Way back in the mists of time - it must have been 2007 or 2008, I can't remember which, James Harrison was the Liberal Youth representative on the Scottish Party Campaigns and Candidates Committee, in his first year at Glasgow University.
Tonight, he's been elected as the next SRC President at Glasgow University. I saw him recently at the Equal Marriage when he'd come over with the Glasgow contingent of students. He's had a sabbatical role this year as VP Learning and Development. He seemed very well suited to the sort of leadership role he's been entrusted with. He'll be a fantastic president. He's run a really strong campaign and he deserves his victory. To get a flavour of what the guy's about, have a look at this recent interview in the Glasgow Guardian.
I suspect there will be much beer consumed in celebration tonight.
It's great to see that Liberal Democrat students are winning elections and winning the trust of students again.
It goes to show that despite all that's been said in the press, the party can still win trust amongst students in Scotland. So next time anyone says students will never trust us again, tell them about James' victory.
Congratulations to James and I wish him all the best for his year in the top job.
4 comments:
Was he running explicitly as a Liberal Democrat?
It's reasonable that student officers have political preferences.
However, to stand on a party ticket is utterly iniquitous, and shows more interest in party wonkery and climbing the greasy hierarchy into full time politics without ever gaining actual life experience to draw on.
If you want the perfect example: Jim Murphy.
When he was NUS Scotland president, and demonstrated himself a sheep to whatever orders came from Labour High Command, no student outwith the Labour group trusted him any further than they could throw him, and he's not had the opportunity to learn any better since.
See, it's not as if he's going to seek re-election, so like Jim, he can pretty much do what he likes and is far more likely to be beholden to the interests of the party group that got him elected.
Far better to have an independently minded person, likely to stand up for the interests of the electorate.
This isn't to cast aspersions on James — who I don't know — but to highlight the risks of putting party politics into Student representation.
I'm not sure he stood as a Liberal Democrat, although his affiliation is well known.
It's the quality of the person, not the party affiliation or otherwise that's important. And James is top quality and will be a fabulous president.
He stood with opposition to cuts & fees, which makes him the antithesis of a Liberal Democrat candidate.
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