Oxford Chancellor Race: British MPs Throw Support Behind Jailed Pakistan’s Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan

Conservative peer Lord Daniel Hannan and independent MPs Shockat Adam and Adnan Hussain have each voiced their support for Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and a towering national figure, as the next Chancellor of Oxford University. 

Imran Khan is vying for the position of Oxford Chancellor against Tony Blair and Boris Johnson. 

Unlike his rivals, who are also Oxford alumni, Imran Khan is running for Chancellor from a prison cell. 

Khan is imprisoned in Pakistan for a 10-year prison sentence, convicted of leaking state secrets. 

The UN has called for his release, with a recent report deeming his detention both arbitrary and a breach of international law. 

Hannan, a former European Parliament member, is also a writer and the founding president of the Initiative for Free Trade. As an Oxford graduate, he is eligible to vote in the upcoming election for Chancellor. Hannan praised Khan as a “towering figure in philanthropy, sports, and politics.”

“He would make a superb chancellor for the world’s foremost university,” Hannan said. 

Shockat Adam, the independent MP for Leicester South, stated Khan's appointment as Chancellor would serve as a “universal symbol of resistance.” 

“It would send a powerful message of hope and exemplify the notion that walls merely imprison one’s body but not one’s beliefs,” Adam said. 

Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, who was Khan’s special assistant in government and is now his aide, said: “He is someone that has proved he stands up for justice, integrity and freedom. These are the principles he got from Oxford and they are what the university stands for.” 

Bukhari believes that Khan's election would be particularly meaningful given his current circumstances. 

“To the Pakistani government it would send a message that although the country has gone so far back it's put its most popular leader behind bars, from the UN to Oxford University everyone can see he shouldn’t be there,” Bukhari said. 

Khan has been barred from running for office in Pakistan, despite being widely regarded as the country’s most popular politician. His imprisonment has added a poignant layer of significance to his candidacy for the Oxford Chancellorship. 

His connection to Oxford runs deep. 

Rejected by Cambridge University, he joined Oxford in 1972 to study philosophy, politics and economics and graduated in 1975. During his time there, he also led the university’s cricket team. 

By the 1990s, Khan was a celebrated cricket star. In the early 2000s, he transitioned to a prominent political role, strongly opposing the US-led “war on terror” and criticizing British participation in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as drone strikes in Pakistan. 

The Oxford Chancellor position is mainly symbolic and is elected by graduates who have been conferred their degrees and registered to vote, along with members of the university’s congregations, including faculty. 

The candidates will be elected in late October by a convocation of Oxford members and graduates of the university.