Appearances Can Be Deceiving
I listened to the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) on the radio the other day - a chap named Aaron Porter.
Sounded like a nice, well mannered young man - not a wild-eyed anarchist.
But as the interview went on he sounded more and more like a political wannabee - a party hack even.
So I did some checking on the web and what did I find - Aaron is indeed a member of the Labour party - and follows a long line of Labour supporting NUS Presidents - who find their way into party politics.
Phil Woolas - former Home Secretary who lost his seat recently following a complaint that he told blatant lies about his opponent in the May general election.
Charles Clarke - another fomer Home Secretary and Education Minister, sacked by Tony Blair, but a fierce critic of Gordon Brown.
Jack Straw - Foreign Secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion and another former Home Secretary who has been around a long time.
Stephen Twigg - famously unseated Michael Portillo in the 1997 general election and acted as a junior minister in the subsequent Blair government.
Jim Murphy - East Renfrewshire MP since 1997, former Secretary of State for Scotland and the current Shadow Defence Minister.
So it just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving sometimes - what you see is not necessarily all of what you get.
Just like trade union leaders who - at face value - appear to be taking a non-party polical stance - there's a lot more to what they're saying than first meets the eye.
Scratch the surface and you'll often find there's a party hack underneath - with all the views and party prejudices that go with the territory.
Sounded like a nice, well mannered young man - not a wild-eyed anarchist.
But as the interview went on he sounded more and more like a political wannabee - a party hack even.
So I did some checking on the web and what did I find - Aaron is indeed a member of the Labour party - and follows a long line of Labour supporting NUS Presidents - who find their way into party politics.
Phil Woolas - former Home Secretary who lost his seat recently following a complaint that he told blatant lies about his opponent in the May general election.
Charles Clarke - another fomer Home Secretary and Education Minister, sacked by Tony Blair, but a fierce critic of Gordon Brown.
Jack Straw - Foreign Secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion and another former Home Secretary who has been around a long time.
Stephen Twigg - famously unseated Michael Portillo in the 1997 general election and acted as a junior minister in the subsequent Blair government.
Jim Murphy - East Renfrewshire MP since 1997, former Secretary of State for Scotland and the current Shadow Defence Minister.
So it just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving sometimes - what you see is not necessarily all of what you get.
Just like trade union leaders who - at face value - appear to be taking a non-party polical stance - there's a lot more to what they're saying than first meets the eye.
Scratch the surface and you'll often find there's a party hack underneath - with all the views and party prejudices that go with the territory.
