Imran Khan competes with Tony Blair and Boris Johnson to be Oxford chancellor

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s most famous living man, has held multiple prestigious titles throughout his 71-year life.

He was captain of the Pakistani cricket team, winning the 1992 World Cup. Over two decades later he became his country’s prime minister.

Now Khan has his sights set on another title: chancellor of the UK’s elite Oxford University. 

He plans to run for the coveted role following the resignation of 80-year-old Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, from the chancellorship. The chancellor is the titular head of the university and elected by a convocation of Oxford members and alumni.

The former Pakistani prime minister will be up against multiple other high-profile candidates, including two former British prime ministers: Tony Blair and Boris Johnson.

All three men are Oxford graduates and former world leaders. But unlike his British competitors, Khan will be contesting the election from a prison cell.

He is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted of leaking state secrets. A recent UN report concluded that his detention is both arbitrary and in contravention of international law.

After being removed from power by a military-backed no-confidence vote in April 2022, Khan was first arrested in May 2023 and has since been involved in over 150 legal cases. The UN has called for his immediate release.

He maintains his innocence of all charges and reportedly spends his time in prison reading voraciously, including historical studies and Tolstoy novels. 

And Khan is no stranger to electioneering from prison. Despite his incarceration, his party, Tehreek-e-Insaf, won the most seats in parliament in Pakistan’s February general election.

Khan’s Oxford connection

Khan has a long-standing connection to Oxford. Having been turned down by Cambridge University, in 1972 Khan went to Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1975. During his time there he was captain of the university’s cricket team.

Having attained worldwide cricket stardom by the 1990s, in the early 2000s Khan reinvented himself as the Pakistani politician most critical of the US-led so-called “war on terror” – including the British involvement in the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq and the use of killer drones in Pakistan.

Blair was Britain’s prime minister at the time and played a leading role in western interventions in the Middle East, Afghanistan and beyond.

“How can Blair absolve himself of the deaths of thousands of Iraqis as a result of US-UK-led invasion and of chaos unleashed in the region?” Khan asked in 2016.

Now the two political enemies are competing for the same job – in markedly different circumstances. 

Johnson, also expected to run for the chancellorship, was Britain’s prime minister while Khan led Pakistan.

Oxford chancellors are typically alumni of the university and often former politicians. They are expected to preside over university ceremonies and act as ambassadors for the university.