The Broad Left was a political faction within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS) during the 1970s. It consisted of a working relationship between the Labour Party, the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

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, the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

(CPGB), and other, non-aligned, supporters in order to work as a single voting bloc against the

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and some

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student groups. It held the union presidency from 1973 to 1982. The Broad Left movement should not be confused with the

Student Broad Left Liberation Left (formerly Student Broad Left or SBL) is a factional grouping operating within the National Union of Students (United Kingdom), National Union of Students of the United Kingdom. The group was formed in 1997 as a split from the Cam ...

movement, a later NUS faction.

Notable members

Those elected to the NUS executive on the Broad Left ticket include the following: *

David Aaronovitch David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for ''The Times'' and the author of ''Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country'' (2000), ''Voodoo ...

(CPGB; NUS President, 1980–82) *

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life Th ...

(Labour; NUS President, 1975–77) *

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...

(Non-aligned Broad Left; NUS President, 1978–1980) *

Sue Slipman Susan Slipman (born 3 August 1949) was President of the National Union of Students between 1977 and 1978. She later joined the National Union of Public Employees. Since then she has held a wide range of appointments and offices in the public sect ...

(CPGB; NUS President, 1977–78) *

Andrew Lansley Andrew David Lansley, Baron Lansley, (born 11 December 1956) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Secretary of State for Health and Leader of the H ...

(President of the Guild of Students) Student politics National Union of Students (United Kingdom) Factions {{UK-poli-stub