NUS Applaud Death of the Late Margaret Thatcher

It has been reported that the news of Margaret Thatcher’s death was welcomed with an applause at the NUS National Conference today.

The Chief Returning Officer of the NUS, said on stage: “This is a day I’ll never forget. For those of you who’ve seen the news, you’ll know what I mean” which was followed by an applause and cheers by a small number of attendees. However, an NUS spokesperson has denied that the death of Thatcher was mentioned during the conference, but due to the indirect reference, it is understandable as to why this has been denied.

There has been outrage on Twitter from those whom witnessed and have heard about the news:

The hashtag #nusnc13 has been used for other tweets that have caused outrage such as:

In reply to this, the NUS President Liam Burns gave this statement on the matter:

Following misrepresentations on Twitter, I feel that I have to respond to Margaret Thatcher’s death. Now, let me be clear, I’m the last person to agree with Margaret Thatcher’s politics or her policy record as prime minister. But we must not forget that an elderly woman has just died. She had family, friends, colleagues and supporters who will want to pay their respects at this time, and the media and public debate will now be dominated by this unexpected news.

It’s not just that this would reflect extremely badly upon us if we were to show disrespect at this time. We are better than that. We believe there is such thing as humanity. There is such a thing as sensitivity. And there is such a thing as respect. I ask you all to think very carefully indeed about how you respond to this news as conference continues.

Sam Ling, Chloe Green, Shane Murphy and David Gilani are all thought to be attending the conference. VP Communications, and future SUSU President David Gilani gave us the following statement:

There were a few dozen individuals who cheered / laughed when the death of Thatcher was referenced, which was, quite frankly disappointing. I’m very glad that Liam Burns (NUS President) came on stage to condemn the action a few minutes later. This got a cheer from the whole auditorium, quite rightly so.

In November, Southampton University voted to not to affiliate with the NUS.