Two months after he soared to a triumphant and controversial victory in the SURHUL Sabbatical elections, President-elect, Daniel Cooper stands for the NUS Block of 15 only to withdraw.

“I am focussing on my Union this year so I am withdrawing from this election this year,” he told the conference floor having driven home a passionate speech. Daniel urged delegates to vote for for Michael Chessum number one and to give their transferrable vote to Mark Bergfeld.

The Block of 15 are the individually elected members of the NUS National Executive Council (NEC), the interim decision making body of the NUS between national conferences. The NEC typically meets six or seven times a year. Only those delegates present at the national conference possess the right to vote on the Block of 15.

Standing in critical support of six fellow “left/anti-cuts” candidates, Daniel calls for an “outward-looking, political union” and believes that the NUS needs a “sharp turn left.” He believes that the NEC’s refusal to support the recent UCU lecturer’s strike was a “disgrace” and he labels the NUS policy for graduate tax “an embarrassment.”

Up against 28 other candidates, Daniel demarcated himself as an “internationalist.” He stood for a Union that “champions liberation and builds solidarity with movements like the worker uprising in Wisconsin and revolutions sweeping the Middle East.”

In his one minute speech to conference, Daniel spoke out about claims that “free education is unfair.” “This is nonsense,” he said.

Criticising Vice-Chancellors for pocketing “hundreds of thousands of pounds” Daniel called for students to form a “clear vision” for society. “We live in world where tiny a minority controls the wealth. The majority produce it,” he said.