Rory Stewart is a successful podcast host, but would he make a good Oxford University chancellor? The former Tory MP is in the running to replace Chris Patten, who is retiring. Stewart is the bookies’ front runner in the race: ‘This is a very interesting idea and an amazing role,’ he said, ‘but I would naturally have to think hard about whether I am the right candidate’. Stewart shouldn’t have to spend too long thinking: he’s the wrong man for the job.
In his brief Tory leadership campaign in 2019, Stewart’s limitations became clear. His support amongst Tory MPs soon fizzled out as he failed to make a significant impression in the debates. He made clear he would not serve under Boris Johnson, left parliament at the earliest opportunity, and quit the Conservatives. The message was obvious: the Tories could either let him lead them, or they weren’t worth his time. Despite his sofa-surfing efforts, his London Mayoral campaign bombed too.
Stewart’s CV in Westminster looks shabby
This is why electing him as Oxford’s chancellor would be absurd. Stewart has an earnestness that has made him the King across the water for Britain’s centrist dads, who lap up new episodes of his podcast, The Rest is Politics. He is doing worthwhile work in trying to tackle extreme poverty as part of his charity gig. But the reality is that Stewart is a political pygmy, elevated by both his own self-regard and his messianic fanbase into seeming much more important than he ever actually was.
Stewart is eloquent about Boris Johnson’s flaws. But the two are much similar than he might admit: they are both well-spoken Tory Romantics with interesting backstories that inspire in their followers an enthusiasm they have never quite earned.
Stewart may have achieved much before he entered politics, but once in Westminster, his CV looks shabby. He spent only three months in the cabinet. Oxford’s previous chancellors were prime ministers, foreign secretaries, and viceroys of India. Harold Macmillan and Roy Jenkins were Patten’s immediate predecessors They were not podcast hosts who quit parliament in a huff after their colleagues didn’t give them the top job.
What’s more, Stewart’s solutions to Britain’s problems are banal: reintroducing national service; electoral reform; citizens’ assemblies. His earnestness also comes with an undertone of narcissism. His answer to our political woes seems to be wishing that more MPs were as thoughtful as him.
Like Stewart, Oxford has an impressive past that matches an underwhelming present. Saltburn made the city look sexy, but today’s visitors will find it looking dilapidated. It lags St Andrews in university rankings. The Covid vaccine shows it still have some life left. But Stewart is the wrong man to revive Oxford’s fortunes.
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