The Secret State

On Wednesday I heard an appeal by a student who had been disqualified in an election for the post of Vice-president of the students' union where I am an External Trustee.

The allegations about her misconduct were all made anonymously or in confidence to the Returning Officer who disqualified her 30 minutes before the election result was announced, did not tell her what was the substance of the allegations, allowed her no opportunity to rebut the charges and refused to allow her to bring a friend to the meeting.

Although I and my co-External Trustee did not accept every one of her statements, we did not hesitate to overturn the result of the election and to order that it be re-opened.

We said that although secret and unchallengeable testimony might have a role to play in cases where the security of the state and its citizens is in jeopardy, it must never be part of the conduct of affairs of a democratic institution such as a students' union.

We allowed ourselves some congratulation on a hard job well done.