Mandelson call for non-Tory chancellor of Oxford ‘stupid’, says Patten
The former Conservative party chair Chris Patten has described Peter Mandelson’s claim that it is time for a non-Tory chancellor of the University of Oxford as “a sort of stupid argument” and a “real mistake”.
Lord Patten is retiring from the prestigious role, prompting a host of candidates, including Labour’s Lord Mandelson and the former Conservative cabinet ministers William Hague and Dominic Grieve to announce they are standing for election. Launching his campaign, Mandelson had noted in an interview that just two of the nine chancellors in the last century had not been Tory, adding: “I don’t see why the Conservatives should have a monopoly on this position.”
Patten, 80, the first Oxford chancellor to stand down since 1715 when James Butler, the second Duke of Ormonde, fled for France after being impeached for treason, said party politics should have no role to play in the election campaign.
He said: “It is a sort of stupid argument. I mean, people are actually saying the chancellor is always Conservative. My predecessor was [the former Labour cabinet minister] Roy Jenkins. His predecessor was Harold Macmillan, who was after all the prime minister. And I think it is a real mistake to try to turn it into a left-right issue. You are not a leftwing chancellor or a rightwing chancellor. If you are any good, you are a chancellor that is good for Oxford.”
Patten added: “I have views [on the candidates], but I am not going to express what they are except that it is important that it should be someone who’s already done things and who understands Oxford and isn’t just doing it to step a bit further up the greasy pole.”
Asked whether this could describe Mandelson, Patten responded: “I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Patten is the first modern-day chancellor to retire from the post. “I just thought 21 years was quite enough and I wasn’t sure I had enough fresh ideas,” he said.
Tens of thousands of former and current students are expected to vote in the election next month, which is being conducted online for the first time.