The Rumour Mill: Factionalism the name of the game at EUSA

Campaign season has kicked off in earnest at EUSA, and with it comes a surprising proliferation of gossip blogs and anonymous Twitter accounts - and the revival of this most unsubstantiated of columns.

EUSA establishment favourite Matthew McPherson has now officially launched his presidential bid, but The Journal hears from an anonymous tipster that he may have lost the support of his native Labour Students when he told the club he’ll be endorsing Harriet Page for Vice-President Societies and Activities, instead of doing the loyal thing and backing Labour’s preferred candidate, Emma Meehan.

James McAsh has also launched his presidential campaign as the anti-cuts candidate, heading up the ‘Defend Edinburgh’ slate alongside fellow anti-cutter Michael Williamson, who is taking a run at Vice-President Academic Affairs. Defend Edinburgh, understood to be contesting up to 20 positions, looks like a broad coalition of campaigning societies rather than a party-political movement, though a generally leftist tendency is clear. So the game this year looks like a pitched battle between the noisy independents and the EUSA clique. What fun.

A dark horse presidential candidate has emerged in the form of unknown quantity Ian Buerger. Full disclosure: as EUSAlicious so adroitly deduced, Ian is the other half of our news editor, so we fully expect plenty of conflict-of-interest banter from our detractors. Last year’s welcome comic relief Tom Crewther is also running for president again: an early glance at his website bio suggests he hasn’t lost his quirky sense of humour, but we’re also hearing that he might be considering a more serious run. The outsider circuit is rounded off by the recent addition of Gavin Hume, who mounted an unsuccessful Vice-President Services bid last year.

Rumours flying about a current sabbatical officer tipped to be running for either a second term or a promotion have proved to be largely unfounded: VPS Sam Hansford told The Journal that he would definitely not be seeking re-election, but one source suggests that Sam feels his hand was forced by the ongoing graduation ball controversy. Would the bad publicity really have torpedoed his chances? We’ll never know.

VPAA Stevie Wise has now confirmed that she’ll be exiting EUSA to take a run at an NUS Scotland depute president position, and there’s still no word from either president Liz Rawlings or VPSA Amy Woodgate. The Journal understands that it is unlikely that either intends to stand for re-election, but Amy has apparently been heard coyly telling friends she’d run again “if people want her to”.

Speaking of incumbents, external convenor Stuart Tooley is definitely running for re-election, but he’s got a challenge on his hands in the form of IRSoc president and Defend Edinburgh candidate Ledys Sanjuan. While this opens up an interesting front in the battle between the EUSA apparatchiks and the activist set, it seems a bit like friendly fire given Stuart’s involvement in the early anti-cuts protests way back in semester one.

In the blogosphere, the ongoing conflict/flirtation between the EUSAlicious and EUSAvicious blogs continues to entertain, and even caught the attention of the Guardian’s Edinburgh blogger recently. EUSAlicious, the pet project of former VPSA Camilla Pierry and Gabi Jones has been quick off the mark this year, though several of its predictions have gone wide - most notably the claim that current president Liz Rawlings and VPS Sam Hansford were planning a re-election slate.

In typically cliqueish EUSA form, we hear that Camilla is stage-managing Harriet Page’s campaign, while Gabi is running for social convenor - so perhaps The Journal isn’t going to be the only target for conspiracy theorists this year. Gabi’s bid is a peculiar case, given that she’s currently studying in France and will be absent for much of the campaign - but we hear she's got Sam Hansford helping her out in the background, so maybe her geographical problems won't prejudice her chances.

And finally, the rumours continue to swirl around the identity of foul-mouthed blog anti-hero EUSAvicious. Multiple sources have mentioned the same name to The Journal in connection with the anonymous blogger, but at this stage it's too shaky to report, even in this column. Could this be the start of another Harry Cole/EUSAless attack blog controversy?