Chancellor Lord William Hague addressed students at a keynote event hosted by the Oxford Politics Society last Thursday, warning of a “new chapter in the history of the world”.
Discussing his early political beginnings as a 16-year-old speaking at the Conservatives’ 1977 Annual National Conference and his career as Foreign Secretary and Leader of the Conservative Party, Hague addressed the “destabilising” changes in international relations, which require “the United Kingdom to re-energise itself, to use its greatest strengths to recover some of its traction, its power in the world”.
Alluding to the actions of US President Donald Trump, Hague noted that “we can start to see what happens when you don’t have enough power to uphold international law, and protect our allies”.
Reflecting on mistakes he made as Leader of the Opposition, Hague told the audience: “I wish I’d known… that politics is not just about giving people a set of policies you think they agree with… they are interested in the story you are telling about the country, and they are interested in the values you hold as an individual.”
Lord Hague outlined a “far greater divergence of views” now than the “relatively stable world” of 2010, when he chaired the Conservative negotiating team for the Coalition government. The former Foreign Secretary under David Cameron cautioned the development of politics into “versions of right and left-wing populism”.
“I do think it is very important in the political system to have parties which are roughly called centre-right, or indeed centre-left.”
Discussing his former counterpart at the dispatch box, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Hague said they “can’t think of anything to disagree over anymore”. He noted similarities between the Conservative Party’s Position now and under his leadership from 1997-2001, and compared both to the Terminator restoring itself one finger at a time, noting “it takes time to recover”.
Commenting on the current Government, he praised Prime Minister Keir Starmer for “doing so many of the right things” on the international stage: “I do sympathise with Keir Starmer… having to phone President Trump every few days.”
At the start of the event, the Chancellor was asked about his experience of student politics whilst a student at Oxford. Lord Hague, a former President of the Oxford University Conservative Association and the Oxford Union, urged others to have a “more varied student life than the one [he] had”.
Nonetheless, he insisted it was his university experience that gave him the “practical experience of politics”, with the Oxford Union offering experience “directly helpful for British parliamentary politics”. “[Politics] is the one forum in which you can affect change that affects millions of people.”
Hague highlighted his work on the Disability Discrimination Act as the proudest achievement of his political life: “Perhaps I was wasting my time half the time I was in politics, but if you can do things like that, perhaps it’s worth it, and you’ll tell young people, ‘Do get involved in politics’.”
Speaking exclusively to Cherwell after the event, Lord Hague affirmed that he has had good relations with Labour ministers since becoming Chancellor, including regular contact with Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Science, and the Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Lord Patrick Vallance.
“I know Lord Vallance well, and he’s very supportive of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor… they’re doing some welcome things.”
Lord Hague told Cherwell about the University’s own approach to preparing students for global changes, particularly around artificial intelligence, and defended the University’s decision to provide free access to ChatGPT Edu to students. Lord Hague said: “I think it is the right approach. We have to be at the forefront of AI. There are major issues about how we preserve the full faculties of the human mind while doing that. But the answer is not to shut ourselves off from it… a great university is where we work these things out.
“Humanities [subjects] also have an absolutely crucial role in determining how we respond to all of these things, and again, it’s in Oxford that we could really bring that to bear.”
The Chancellor expressed his desire to “go to student societies, as much as time allows”, adding a responsibility to meet with students to the “normal role” of a Chancellor across his 10-year term. He told Cherwell: “It’s not normally part of what the Chancellor does… I do personally, not only from a point of view of personal enjoyment but in order to be able to represent the university, I do think it’s important to [interact with] students.”
President of the Oxford Politics Society Ralph Armitage told Cherwell: “I think giving him a chance to talk to, to hear from students from different parts of student political standpoints… is super valuable.”
Speaking to Cherwell, one attendee described Hague’s appearance as “incredibly insightful”, whilst another felt Hague was succeeding in his role as Chancellor, “managing the situation very well despite difficult circumstances”.
Another student attending the event told Cherwell that Hague “seemed to be doing a good job” but “it would be nice to hear more about what he is up to”.
At the end of the Q&A session, Lord Hague was asked about the BBC TV show Traitors: “I’m a very faithful person, but I was trained in Oxford politics to be a traitor.”
