UCU leader Sally Hunt called for unity in the academics’ union yesterday in her first congress speech after a “terrifying” near death experience. 

Ms Hunt told members a “cautionary tale” of how her battle against chronic ulcerative colitis over the last year had given her a new perspective on life and the union.

“I kept on saying I was too busy to be ill,” she said. 

“It took a doctor to tell me that without an operation there was a strong likelyhood I could die.”

She remembered how a card from “friend and comrade” Bob Crow that “instructed me to get better” was among thousands of get well messages. 

And she said the experience showed her how “we put too much emphasis on what divides us.” 

“I want to say, the thing that is the real enemy of working people and our students is poverty, ignorance and underachievement,” she added.