Lord David Sainsbury, ex-Chairman of the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain, has been proposed by the Nomination Board for the role of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

Although the nomination awaits approval from the University’s Senate, it is anticipated that Lord Sainsbury will become Chancellor on 1 July this year, if uncontested.

The current Chancellor, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will end his 34 years in the position on 30 June, stepping down shortly after celebrating his 90th birthday.

Lord Sainsbury has agreed to the nomination and is a Cantab himself having graduated from King’s College in the 1960s with a BA in History and Psychology.

The Nomination Board is believed to have considered a substantial list of potential candidates for the Chancellor position but fifty members of the Senate could potentially nominate an alternative by 17 June.

A spokesman for the University told Varsity that it has no further comment and that “it is up to the Senate.”

The potential Chancellor was Finance Director of the family firm ‘J. Sainsbury Ltd.’ before replacing JD Sainsbury himself as Chairman in 1992.

In his capacity as Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the Old Etonian also holds a seat in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour party.

Lord Sainsbury still retains a significant shareholding in his family’s chain of supermarkets and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Academy of Medical Sciences.