Cambridge Election Isn't Academic as Four Compete to Be Chancellor

By FRANCES ROBINSON. Billionaire Lord vs. Corner Store Owner; One Candidate Vows to 'Sink All the Boats'. CAMBRIDGE, England—Cambridge University's chancellorship, a ceremonial post created in 1246, has long passed serenely among aristocrats, bishops, generals and princes. Dons in dark gowns would meet in ivy-covered colleges to orchestrate the transition. Now, the Internet age has spoiled all that.
Prince Philip, 90 years old, best known as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is standing down after 34 years in the role. But instead of a neat succession, a rambunctious four-way campaign has unfolded. The candidates: a billionaire Lord and former politician, a stentorian Shakespearean actor, a socialist vegetarian lawyer and the immigrant owner of a corner store. It is the first time the university has had to hold an election for the post since 1847. In 1950, Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder almost had to contest the election against Jawaharlal Nehru, but the latter withdrew, as he was busy being the first prime minister of India.
If events had gone according to plan, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, 70, would already be the 108th chancellor of the world's fourth-oldest university. The university's nomination board selected the Eton-educated heir to the U.K.'s Sainsbury supermarket chain, expecting him to be elected unopposed in July. His Gatsby Charitable Foundation recently gave $125 million to build Cambridge a new laboratory to study plant development.
But the world has changed quite a bit since rebel dons from rival Oxford established Cambridge in 1209. Online campaigns by graduates have brought about the contested vote this year. It only takes the signatures of 50 qualified graduates to nominate a candidate.
Therefore, on Friday and Saturday, under the watchful eye of London's Electoral Reform Services, the four go head-to-head for the honor of wearing the chancellor's gold lace brocade robes.
"He's got absolutely no issue with there being an election," a spokesman for Lord Sainsbury said. "He's enjoying the chance to reconnect with people in Cambridge and find out what they want from the role of chancellor."
Lord Sainsbury, a former minister in Tony Blair's Labour government and a big donor to the party, says he's "not a tribal politician," and would use the role to be a "unifying force for faculty, students and staff."
Abdul Arain, 46, was the first to announce that he would compete for the job. Mr. Arain's retail empire is smaller than Lord Sainsbury's. It consists entirely of the Al-Amin store, post office and halal butcher shop on the city's Mill Road. But Mr. Arain insists his candidacy is about more than his opposition to plans to open a Sainsbury's branch across the street from him.
"The university's a world-class institution at the forefront of academia," he said, standing in front of shelves stacked with family-size cans of mangoes and imported prawn-flavored chips. "I want to encourage people who are not the typical student, show them the door is open," says the neatly bearded grocer who has been in the United Kingdom for 30 years.
A group of alumni used a Facebook group to nominate Brian Blessed, 75, an eccentric Shakespearean actor known for his big beard and booming voice, with a long résumé including the 1999 movie "Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace" and the 1980 cult film "Flash Gordon."
After reciting a rousing speech from Shakespeare's "Henry V" and declaring that "Cambridge is Camelot," Mr. Blessed, who says he is the oldest man to trek to the North Pole, sets out his vision for the role. This includes bringing "King Lear" to the masses by performing it in discount stores.
Standing at a lectern where Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan had stood before him, Mr. Blessed outlined his plans for the job. "I could come and jump off the Mathematical Bridge and sink all the boats," bellowed the oversized thespian, referring to the elegant wooden bridge over the Cam River. "Especially the ones with lovely ladies in, then I can rescue them!"
Mr. Blessed, the son of a coal miner, has supporters flying in from Boston to vote for him. He will spend election day in a pub called the Eagle, which is full of graffiti by the pilots of the Memphis Belle and other U.S. airmen who drank there in World War II.
"Brian's been in a few times," said barman Adam Gaynor drawing a pint of India Pale Ale. "To be honest, we get a lot of famous people, Stephen Fry was here the other week, and Crick and Watson, who discovered DNA, used to sit at that table over there."
The fourth candidate is a last-minute entry from Michael Mansfield, Queen's Counsel, a 70-year-old socialist lawyer who has represented accused Irish Republican Army bombers and former Harrods store owner Mohamed Al-Fayed during the inquest into the deaths of his son Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997. Mr. Mansfield says he would use the role to protest cuts in government funding for U.K. universities and a controversial rise in tuition to £9,000 ($14,192) from about £3,300.
"I find it astonishing that we are regressing into making students pay for their education," Mr. Mansfield says. Tuition was introduced in the U.K. in 1998. "Oxford and Cambridge universities should say to the government, don't blackmail us into making students take on debt…especially in the current economic environment."
University authorities have organized the election, taking into account modern developments such as the secret ballot, while preserving traditions like providing cups of tea and sandwiches for voters.
All holders of a master's degree are eligible to vote, excluding recent graduates and current students. A university spokesman says about 150,000 are eligible to vote. Because voting must be done in person, while wearing academic gowns, a turnout of only about 8,000 is expected.
The race is expected to be close for a job that involves making speeches in Latin and promoting the university (Prince Philip held dinners for the purpose at Windsor Castle). And negative campaigning hasn't been a big feature of the competition. "I've not met the other lads, but they sound super," Mr. Blessed boomed in the union society's oak-paneled debating chamber.