Blair-faced cheek: City University student dispute over ‘fake’ alumni

A campaign to get more students to vote in a London university election has descended into a row involving two former prime ministers.

The student union at City University used pictures of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Gandhi under the heading “These leaders went to City. Who will you elect?”

But a group of students has accused the union of misleading voters as the three graduated from the Inns of Court School of Law decades before it became part of City University in 2001.

Journalism student Ayub Nouinou, 19, said: “It is absolutely ridiculous for the student union to claim that three of the most prominent names in history attended City University when they did not.” He added that he could no longer trust information from the union and would not be voting in future student elections.

Student union president Giulio Folino said the union used the images of Thatcher, Blair and Gandhi because they are listed as alumni on City University’s website.

He added: “We wanted to use them as a way of encouraging students to think about these leaders and if they want to lead the student union. A small pocket of students are very vocal about it. It’s completely up to them what they want to spend their time doing.”

Sophie Cubbin, spokeswoman for City, said the history of the law school was explained on the university website, but the “famous alumni” page “perhaps is a bit less explicit. We might need to have a look at it.”