Look down the list of the masters, wardens and principals of Oxford colleges and you’ll soon see that The Spectator’s contributing editor Peter Oborne was on to something with his theory of the inexorable rise of the media and political classes. At high tables across the university, former journalists, broadcasting executives and quangocrats are increasingly occupying places of honour once reserved for scholars of great renown.
Ensconced in the master’s chair at St Peter’s College is the former controller of BBC Radio 4, Mark Damazer. The principal of St Anne’s is former Newsnight editor and Channel 4 executive Tim Gardam. Ex-Guardian and Economist writer Frances Cairncross is the rector of Exeter College.
‘There’s foul weather ahead for all universities, but particularly for Oxford colleges,’ warned the senior fellow as he welcomed the appointment of the former Observer editor Will Hutton as Hertford College’s principal last year.
But if Will Hutton is the solution, what is the problem? It’s a fair bet that the author of The State We’re In wasn’t drafted in to rescue the institution’s finances.
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