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Rumours that Lord Browne is a candidate to be the next vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge gained strength last week when he was named in the Cambridge University Reporter .

The "people's peer", who is chief executive of BP, is an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He was at the helm of BP Amoco when the company gave Cambridge £25 million for a new research institute. Lord Browne is also believed to be acting as an informal and influential adviser on higher education to Downing Street.