Gemma Tumelty

Gemma Tumelty, a student's union officer, was elected President of the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS) on March 31, 2006 and will take up the post in July.

Although Tumelty is a member of the Labour Party she was not a candidate of its student wing, Labour Students, and ran for President with the description "independent". She is part of the Organised Independents faction. She beat Pav Akhtar, the first Muslim candidate for President of the NUS and another member of the Labour Party who ran as an independent, in the final round. There were five other candidates, including a member of the Education Not for Sale campaign, candidates from Conservative Future and Liberal Democrat Youth and Students, and two more independents.

Tumelty was the NUS National Secretary for 2005 to 2006, and a member of its National Executive Committee for two years before that. A graduate of Liverpool John Moores University, she was previously Women's Officer and then Vice President of Welfare in Liverpool Students' Union.

Her £18,000 debts from her credit card and loans were featured by BBC News [1].

She supports Tottenham Hotspur football club.

Recently she has courted controversy by alledgedly driving whilst intoxicated between two seperate NUS Training Events in Leicester and Hertfordshire.

External links

• Official election website
• NUS officer's blog
• Debt Divides Prince from Pauper, BBC News, 14 Apr 2005