Mandy Telford

Mandy Telford (born 5 June 1976) is the former President of National Union of Students from 2002 to 2004, having served the previous two years as President of NUS Scotland. She was the fifth woman to hold the NUS presidency and was twice elected as the Labour Students candidate.

Mandy Telford
50th President of the National Union of Students
In office
2002–2004
Preceded byOwain James
Succeeded byKat Fletcher
Personal details
Born (1976-06-05) 5 June 1976
Falkirk, Scotland
Political partyScottish Labour
Spouse(s)
​
(div. 2015)​
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde

Early life

Telford was born in Falkirk and attended the Scottish private school Dollar Academy. She studied at the University of Strathclyde from 1996 until 2000 and for her final year was vice-President of the Students' Association at the Jordanhill campus.[1]

Career

NUS

Telford served as NUS Scotland's women's officer before being elected to serve two consecutive one-year terms as President of NUS Scotland from 2000 to 2002. As President of the National Union of Students from 2002 to 2004, Telford led the campaign against the Labour government's controversial policy to charge university top-up fees, becoming a regular writer for The Guardian and a broadcaster on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Political career

Telford worked for the British trade union Amicus (now part of UNITE the union) as coordinator of the anti-bullying Dignity at Work campaign and was special adviser to Tessa Jowell, Minister for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[2]

In 2013, Telford was elected as a councillor in Cumbria County Council for Walney South, Barrow-in-Furness.[3] She resigned in January 2015.[4]

As the Scottish Labour candidate, Telford contested the Falkirk West constituency in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, where she received 6,980 votes and finished in second place behind the Scottish National Party.[5] She contested Edinburgh West in the 2017 UK general election, receiving 7,876 votes and finishing fourth to the Scottish Liberal Democrats, SNP and Scottish Conservatives respectively.[6]

Telford has been a member of the Progress strategy board.[7]

Personal life

Telford was married to John Woodcock, former MP for Barrow and Furness and special adviser to his predecessor in that seat, John Hutton.[8] They have two daughters. The couple separated in late 2014, and Telford returned to live in Scotland with the children.[9] They divorced in 2015.[8]

References
  1. Aaronovitch, David (6 January 2004). "David Aaronovitch meets NUS president Mandy Telford". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. "NUS presidents: where are they now?". totalpolitics. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  3. "Cumbria County Council elections: Hung council again". BBC. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  4. "Mandy Telford". Cumbria County Council. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  5. "Falkirk West - Scottish Parliament constituency - Election 2016". Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  6. "Edinburgh West parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  7. Telford, Mandy (31 March 2015). "The doorstep challenge". Progress Online. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  8. Prince, Rosa (7 August 2015). "Liz Kendall hits out at unfounded sex smears". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  9. Smith, Anna (27 November 2014). "Furness MP vows to remains 'committed to community' as he announces marriage breakdown". The Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
Political offices
Preceded by
Owain James		 President of the
National Union of Students
2002–2004		 Succeeded by
Kat Fletcher
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