2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election

2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election

← Mar 2003 28 October 2024 (2024-10-28)

Candidate Elish Angiolini Dominic Grieve William Hague   Candidate Peter Mandelson Jan Royall

Incumbent Chancellor Chris Patten

The 2024 University of Oxford election for the position of Chancellor became necessary upon the resignation of the incumbent Chancellor, Chris Patten. More than 23,000 electors cast their votes in the first round, which took place during Third Week of Michaelmas term (week commencing 28 October 2024). This vote produced a shortlist of five candidates for the second and final round, to take place during Sixth Week of Michaelmas Term (week commencing 18 November 2024).

Applications for the role closed on 4 September 2024 and candidacies were announced on 16 October.^[1][2]

Baron Patten of Barnes had been elected as Chancellor of the University of Oxford in March 2003. In February 2024, he announced in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Irene Tracey, that he would retire as Chancellor at the end of the academic year, after twenty-one years in post.^[3][4] He pointed out that he was coming up to his 80th birthday.

In resigning, Patten quoted from the University of Oxford's statutes of 2002: "the Chancellor shall be elected by Convocation and shall hold office during his or her life or until his or her resignation."^[3] However the new Chancellor is due to serve for a 10 year term.

To stand for election, a candidate could simply nominate themselves; the University dropped the previous requirement that at least fifty members of the university's Convocation provide an endorsement. The University's Registrar, in a note to Congregation, reported that the Council envisaged that the Chancellor would have the following three qualities:

1. outstanding achievements in their field and the ability to command respect beyond it;
2. a deep appreciation for the University's research and academic mission, its global community, and its ambition to remain a world class research and teaching university;
3. the ability and willingness to enhance the reputation of the University locally, nationally and abroad.

The election of 2024 is the first to take place on the internet. At all previous elections, ballots needed to be cast in person in Oxford.^[5][6]

The first round of online voting took place during Third Week of Michaelmas term (week commencing 28 October 2024). As there were more than ten candidates, a modified alternative vote system was used with two rounds of voting. In the first round, voters could rank as many of the candidates as they chose, and lower-ranking candidates were successively eliminated, with votes transferred to remaining candidates, until only five candidates remained. These five candidates went forward to a second round, to take place during Sixth Week of Michaelmas Term (week commencing 18 November 2024), again using the alternative vote system, with candidates to be successively eliminated until one candidate achieves 50% of the vote. The new Chancellor will be announced during Seventh Week.^[7]

Leading contenders according to articles in mainstream printed media.^{[8][9][10][11]} They are listed by age, with youngest first.

Image	Name	Oxford college	Current and former roles	Political affiliation	Previous Chancellorships
	William Hague, Baron Hague[12]	Magdalen	Former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons	Conservative
	Lady Elish Angiolini[13]	St Hugh's	Principal of St Hugh’s College Former Lord Advocate of Scotland		University of West of Scotland Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Oxford
	Dominic Grieve[14]	Magdalen	Former Attorney General for England and Wales	Independent, former Conservative
	David Willetts, Baron Willetts[15]	Christ Church	Former Minister for Universities and Science	Conservative	University of Leicester
	Jan Royall, Baroness Royall[16]	Somerville	Principal, Somerville College Former Leader of the House of Lords	Labour Co-operative
	Margaret Casely-Hayford[17]	Somerville	Lawyer, businesswoman and public figure		University of Coventry
	Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson[18]	St Catherine's	Business Secretary and EU Trade Commissioner	Labour	Manchester Metropolitan University

On 10 August 2024, it was reported that Lady Elish Angiolini was running, noting that if successful she would be the first woman Chancellor since the post was founded in 1224.^[21][22][23]

On 16 August 2024, The Daily Telegraph reported that former UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond had applied for the role of Chancellor.^[24]

It was also reported by The Observer that former UK Government Minister Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson had applied for the role.^[25]

On 26 August, The Times reported that Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE and former Chancellor of Coventry University is seeking to become Oxford's first female Chancellor. ^[26]

On 26 August, The Times reported that Professor Simon Kay OBE, a plastic surgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who performed the UK's first hand transplant, and the rare double hand transplant, is another candidate. ^[27]

On 28 August, The Times reported that Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General for England and Wales and former Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, had entered the race; Grieve was elected as Conservative MP for Beaconsfield but latterly sat as an Independent.^[28]

On 29 August, Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary and journalist Major General Alastair Bruce of Crionaich announced on X that he had submitted an application.^[29]

On 3 September, Jan Royall announced her candidacy to be the next chancellor via social media.

On 8 September, The Oxford Student reported that David Willetts, Baron Willetts, a former Conservative minister for Universities and Higher Education and Visiting Professor at King's College, London, had announced his bid.^[30]

On 7 February 2024, The Daily Telegraph reported that the former Conservative minister Rory Stewart, of Balliol College, had emerged as front runner in the election with the bookmaker William Hill.^[5] By chance, Chris Patten and his two predecessors, Harold Macmillan, Earl of Stockton and Roy Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, were also Balliol men.^[31]

Other potential candidates were reported as former British prime ministers Theresa May, Baroness May of Maidenhead, Sir Tony Blair, and Boris Johnson. All of these are members of the University of Oxford,^[32][5] although this qualification is not strictly required, and in principle anyone can be nominated.^[5] The Daily Telegraph subsequently reported that Tony Blair's spokesman said "he was not in the running for the job."^[5]

On 20 June 2024, Stewart announced via social media that he would not be standing, saying, "There’s been talk of me as a candidate for Oxford Chancellor. There are much better candidates than me for Oxford. I won’t be standing. Good luck to those who are."^[33][34]

On 18 August 2024, it was reported that the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan had submitted his nomination papers for the role.^[35][36] His application was rejected, however, for unspecified reasons.^[37]

On 22 March 2024, the University announced changes to its regulations governing the election of a new Chancellor, which were to take effect on 5 April 2024. Instead of any candidate being entitled to stand, subject to being nominated by fifty electors, a new Chancellor's Election Committee will remove nominated candidates from the election process whom it does not consider "suitable".^[38]

The Committee will decide the criteria for suitability and may disclose what they are. It will "have due regard to the principles of equality and diversity".^[38][39]

If the Committee finds only one candidate suitable, it may declare that person to be elected unopposed or may choose to re-open the nominations.^[38]

If in a contested election the voting is tied, the Chairman of the Committee will decide between the candidates with an equal number of votes.^[38][39]

The members of the Committee are:

• the High Steward, currently Lord Reed of Allermuir, who is designated to chair the Committee ex officio;
• the Vice-Chancellor,

and other "representatives from across the collegiate University and its council".^[38] These are:

• one person appointed by the University Council from among its external members;
• two members of the Council appointed by it from among its members;
• one member of Congregation appointed by the Gardens, Libraries and Museums, University administrative Services, and the Department for continuing Education;
• one member of Congregation appointed by each of the divisional boards;
• the early career research staff representative who attends the Council;
• and the chair of the conference of colleges.

The Committee may also co-opt one or two other members.^[39]

Neil O'Brien MP, an Oxford graduate and member of Christ Church, commented the same day: "A stitch-up in Oxford: with no public discussion the University has decided to move away from democracy when choosing its next Chancellor."^[40][41] An article in The Daily Telegraph the next day quoted his "stitch-up" comment and also an unnamed college don who had told the newspaper he saw the new Committee as an "undemocratic, Politburo-style election approach”. Dr Yuan Zi Zhou, a university lecturer in politics, commented that the changing of the rules "illustrates the control freak tendencies of modern academic managers". The removal of duly nominated candidates was believed to be unprecedented in such elections in the United Kingdom.^[42]

On 25 March, the Evening Standard quoted an anonymous "senior cabinet minister" as saying: "We can’t have a stitch-up. The next chancellor must be selected by the same democratic process as the last one." It reported that "another senior government source", also anonymous, had commented: "It is all about this performative obsession with equality and diversity."^[43] In a statement the University said:

"The next chancellor will be elected by convocation — the body of university members and alumni — using an online platform. Eligibility will first be checked by the chancellor's election committee against criteria agreed by council. The committee will be made up of representatives from across the collegiate university and its council."^[43]

On 28 March, a letter from Vice-chancellor Irene Tracey appeared in The Times defending the changes and claiming "democracy is alive and well at Oxford".^[44]

On 30 March, The Sunday Telegraph claimed to have seen a leaked email showing that the intended purpose of the Committee was "to stop politicians becoming chancellor". Damian Green, the former de facto deputy prime minister and a friend of Theresa May from their days at the University of Oxford, described the criteria as "a momentous and ill-advised change which at the very least should have been consulted on".^[45]

On 15 May, The Times reported that "Oxford University has dropped plans to vet the candidates to become its new chancellor after being accused by ministers of an attempted "stitch up" to prevent another white male politician from getting the job...The change is designed to see off a row with senior government ministers, who attacked the proposals as "wokeism gone mad" and said they were designed to install university officials' preferred candidate."^[46] In the same paper, the leader article welcomed the U-turn as "a victory for fairness and common sense."^[47]

Initially, Oxford chancellors were elected for a term of one to three years. Later they were elected for life, starting from John Russell in 1483.^[48] A further function given to the new Chancellor's Election Committee in 2024 was to make a recommendation to the University Council to fix a term of office for the Chancellor. This would need to be decided upon by the Council.^[39]

The purpose of the change was stated as "to prevent the coincidence of a newly appointed Vice-Chancellor and a new elected Chancellor".^[49]

The term of office subsequently decided upon is ten years.^[50]

On 5 November, the University announced five candidates would proceed to the second and final round of voting. They are as follows:^[51]

• Elish Angiolini
• Dominic Grieve
• William Hague
• Peter Mandelson
• Jan Royall

The University emailed the 33 eliminated candidates stating "We will not be releasing any information or rankings or vote share on the first round at this point, so as not to influence the second round of the election." Matthew Firth, one of the eliminated candidates, derided the decision on Twitter as an "unacceptable lack of transparency" and "unacceptable and irregular". Civica Election Services are organising the election. The University instructed Civitas not to provide it with more detail than the first five ranked candidates so as to forestall queries over the full result. Second round voting commenced on 18 November.^[52]

• List of chancellors of the University of Oxford
• 2003 University of Oxford Chancellor election
• 1987 University of Oxford Chancellor election