Kat Fletcher
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Kat Fletcher is the current president of the UK National Union of Students, the first to stand on a united left slate on politics clearly to the left of Labour Students, who have held the position for most of the past twenty years.
She was elected president in 2004 in an extremely close election, which she won by only two votes, having lost the presidential election in 2003 by three votes. As a member of the Campaign for Free Education (CFE), she ran on a leftist platform criticising the NUS for its alliance with Tony Blair's Labour government. Since being elected she has pushed through a process of NUS reform which it is claimed are aimed at saving the organisation from a looming financial crisis and has broken with the united left slate. She is no longer a member of the AWL or the CFE, but to some confusion she has been 'outed' as a member of the Labour Party.
In 2005 she stood for re-election without any description, winning by an overwhelming majority over all other the others standing: Conservative Future's candidate Michael Champion and the Socialist Workers' Student Society candidate Susie Wylie.
Kat Fletcher was formerly the president of Sheffield College's students' union, where she joined the Campaign for Free Education and the Alliance for Workers Liberty, a Trotskyist group. She later attended the University of Leeds and was elected as the NUS Women's Officer, and subsequently to the NUS Block of Twelve part-time officers.
Kat Fletcher should not be confused with Cath Fletcher, a previous AWL and CFE member on the NUS Block of Twelve.