Lord Waldegrave, a minister in the Thatcher and Major governments, has been selected as Provost of Eton College.

The 62-year-old life peer and Old Etonian has been given the Queen’s approval to take up the role as chairman of the governing body, in accordance with the traditions of the school.

William Waldegrave, now Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, was a member of the Conservative government during the 1980s and became Secretary of State for Health in 1990 only days before Margaret Thatcher’s resignation as Prime Minister. He continued to serve in John Major’s government, and was Chief Secretary to the Treasury before losing his seat in the 1997 general election. He entered the House of Lords in 1999.

The Provost of the elite boys’ boarding school is chosen and assisted by a deputy and ten Fellows who are elected by councils from Oxford and Cambridge universities, the Royal Society, the top masters at the school and the Lord Chief Justice.

Lord Waldegrave studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and has served as a Fellow at Eton since 2007. He will take up his new post in February, when the former Head Master and current Provost, Sir Eric Anderson, retires.

He said that he was honoured to be chosen by the Fellows of the college and paid tribute to the “immense contribution to education” of his predecessor. He added: “His will be a very difficult act to follow. I look forward to doing my best to do justice to his legacy.”

Times Recommends

• Catalogue of failings ‘leaves others at risk’
• Tourists told to stay away amid Venice floods
• Google generation has no need for rote learning