Lord Hague inaugurated as university chancellor

William Hague has been formally inaugurated as Oxford University chancellor.

Lord Hague became the 160th recorded chancellor in the University's history and succeeds Lord Patten of Barnes, who announced his retirement from the post in February 2024.

The ceremony took place in front of hundreds of attendees in the Sheldonian theatre in Oxford.

During the admission ceremony, Lord Hague vowed to champion free speech and warned against "comfort blankets of cancellation".

Profile: William Hague

Lord Hague graduated from Magdalen College in 1982, where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

He was president of the Oxford Union, the university's esteemed debating society, during his time as a student.

He became leader of the Conservative in 1997 at the age of just 36, and later became foreign secretary from 2010 to 2014.

Lord Hague spent 26 years as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.

He won the final run-off of voting that took place throughout November against Lady Elish Angiolini by a margin of 1600 votes.

The 10-year role dates back at least 800 years.

Duties include advisory and fundraising work and acting as an ambassador for the University at local, national and international events.

During his formal admission ceremony, Lord Hague said freedom of speech and of academic work and research "will be of paramount importance" in an age where ideas change rapidly.

The Chancellor welcomed the Labour government's decision to revive a number of provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which proposed fines for universities failing to uphold freedom of speech.

"We cannot prepare for the turbulent decades to come by shielding ourselves from inconvenient arguments, wrapping ourselves in comfort blankets of cancellation, or suppressing minority views because they conflict with the beguiling certainty of a majority," he said.

"Our university is a place where we can disagree vigorously while sheltering each other from the abuse and hatred that are so often a substitute for rational opinion."

But the Chancellor warned that debating global issues should "never be an excuse for antisemitism or any other kind of religious or ethnic hatred".

"The concern of a university is that opinions are reached on the basis of truth, reason and knowledge, which in turn requires thinking and speaking with freedom," he added.

Alumni and academics turned out in regalia for the admission ceremony where many sections of the event were spoken in Latin.

Lord Hague received the university's statutes, keys and seal as part of the traditional ceremony.

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