William Hague wins race to be Oxford university chancellor

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Former Tory foreign secretary Lord William Hague has been elected as the next chancellor of Oxford university.

Hague, 63, also former leader of the Conservative party, beat four other shortlisted candidates: Labour peers Lord Peter Mandelson and Baroness Jan Royall, Tory former attorney-general Dominic Grieve and Lady Elish Angiolini, the serving Lord Clerk Register and principal of St Hugh’s College Oxford.

The Tory peer becomes the 160th person to hold the role, which has existed for 800 years, but the first to be elected by online electronic ballot.

In a statement released by the university, Hague, who graduated from Magdalen College in 1982, thanked his “fellow Oxonians for placing such confidence in me”.

He said he regarded his appointment “as the greatest honour of my life” and said his “heart and soul are in Oxford”, as he warned that “what happens at Oxford in the next decade is critical to the success of the UK”.

He was a frontrunner from the outset and waged a high-profile campaign for the job, after admitting that he had never expected to stand for election again after departing the House of Commons.

Hague, a former president of the Oxford Union, deployed his international connections, high political profile and campaigning skills to secure the post.

He claimed that his rival Lord Mandelson would not have been able to combine being Oxford chancellor with being Britain’s ambassador to the US — a job that the Labour peer has been tipped for — saying the two roles were “not compatible”.

Hague follows another senior Conservative in the role: Lord Chris Patten, a former EU commissioner and Hong Kong governor, who is retiring after 21 years.