Peter Mandelson announces bid to become Oxford University Chancellor

Labour peer Peter Mandelson has confirmed he is running to be the next Chancellor at Oxford University.

Mandelson is hoping to fill the role left vacant from Lord Pattern’s retirement in February. He is expected to face competition from former Conservative foreign secretary William Hague and the university’s Pro Vice Chancellor Lady Elish Angiolini.

Should he be successful in his election, he would be the first Labour Party member to hold the title.

READ MORE: ‘A Labour Oxford Chancellor could be transformative for the university sector’

Mandelson, who studied at St Catherine’s College, told the university’s student newspaper Cherwell: “The last Conservative government gave universities and students a really hard time financially. Universities were denigrated by ministers and I am glad that has ended with the election of a new government.”

He also told the newspaper he would use his links with the new Labour government to advocate for Oxford and the university sector more broadly.

The election will take place in October, with more than 250,000 Oxford graduates and staff able to cast their vote.

Mandelson, one of the key people behind the New Labour brand before the 1997 election, served in several Cabinet positions under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and as Labour’s director of communications between 1985 and 1990. He also served as MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004.

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