Merope Mills: Not As Young As It Was

"Student politics," said Henry Kissinger, "are the most vicious kind of politics that exist, because the stakes are so low." For a long time, they were also the most predictable.

For more than two decades, the National Union of Students' presidential elections have been dominated by Labour Students (or "independent" candidates who just happen to be members of the Labour party). It is an historic and unbreakable link, with Labour never failing to flock to support their own.

So Labour Student Mandy Telford's re-election as president of the NUS passed without much comment back in April. But that didn't mean it was not without a small element of surprise.

Normally, the president has no trouble being re-elected for a second term. However, this time, delegates voted in large numbers against Telford. So much so that she eventually kept her position by just three votes. So what has happened to those loyal Labour students who for so long meant a Labour president of the NUS was a shoo-in?

The obvious explanation is that the young, formerly natural Labour supporters have given up on a party that has backed tuition and top-up fees and instead have aligned themselves with the anti-globalisation movement that has gathered pace throughout the Labour government. Membership has suffered as passions have been directed against the big corporations. As a result, Labour Students has been losing members faster than the PM has been losing hair.

But just as much to blame is the steadfast refusal of the Labour leadership to admit they are reaching middle age. Tony Blair confessed in a recent Telegraph interview that he just didn't identify with his upcoming birthday: "I don't feel 50. At all," he said. As a father of a toddler again it's hardly surprising he thinks that way. And, fortuitously, Leo's arrival has given him a longer shelf-life as a politician.

But having cast themselves as the perennial youngsters of politics, Tony Blair and his cabinet have seriously neglected the youth arm of their party, in the misguided belief that they still inhabit that role. As he approaches his birthday this week, it is clear that the youngest prime minister Britain has ever seen has actually forgotten about the young.

One big mistake that Labour makes is to split their young membership into two groups. Students and twentysomethings are divided into Labour Students and Young Labour and, while the former keeps afloat through solid university links and well-organised social events, the latter is hopelessly shambolic and fails to attract members once they graduate. So while Labour Students has hung onto the seat of power by the skin of its teeth, Young Labour has become informal to the point of being ineffective. By its own admission, Young Labour has "gone a bit quiet lately".

Meanwhile, the youth arm of the Conservatives (the cohesive Conservative Future) has managed to hold onto its core support - even attracting new members who may be drawn to the camaraderie of opposition. Last year, the young Tories surprised many by winning back their first NUS executive seat in seven years.

And the big beneficiaries of the Conservatives' desire to appear "in touch" continues to be the under-30s. Encouraged to make their mark on the "adult" party, Iain Duncan Smith even called members of Conservative Future onto the stage at the end of the spring forum in Harrogate last year, as evidence that he is listening to the next generation.

If proof were needed, the Conservatives are demonstrating that it is only when a party is out of power that it has the time and inclination to source and value the views of the young. Targeted recruitment has been labelled a high priority at Tory HQ, which has been sending monthly emails to thousands of schools and voluntary organisations working with young people with a round-up of news from Westminster that is relevant to them. This key demographic - a group too young to recollect the bad old days of Conservative-led recession and ERM failure - is encouraged to participate in policy discussions and to give its opinions on key issues.

Of course, the effects of all this proactivity on the part of the Conservatives, and apathy from the Labour camp, won't be felt for years to come. But one thing is for sure - the Conservatives are far from the dead ducks that they are consistently pronounced to be. Consider where Labour was in the early 1980s - seemingly veering towards oblivion, but quietly encouraging a new generation of politicians that saw them seize back the seat of power from the ageing Tories.

And that is the situation that Labour will find themselves in again if they don't act now. So, happy birthday, Tony. You're not getting any younger - but neither is your party. And now might be the best time for you to recognise that. Unless you want to celebrate your 60th sitting quietly on the benches of the opposition.