FOREIGN Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw has congratulated his son William for being elected President of the Oxford University Students Union.

The post represents ordinary students and is not the more famous Oxford University Union which has spawned a huge number of top politicians, including former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson and former Tory Deputy Premier Michael Heseltine.

William Straw, 21, an undergraduate at New College, stood as an independent.

He will take up his post in June next year, said a union spokeswoman.

His election victory, beating two rivals, emerged after the votes were counted overnight.

Mr Straw was president of Leeds University Students' Union in the late 1960s and then president of the National Union of Students.

The Foreign Secretary, who only comments on his family to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, said: "I am very pleased for Will.''

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, a friend of the Straw family and fellow Blackburn Rovers supporter, commented: "I'm delighted for Will. He thoroughly deserves it.

"I was President of Hull University Union. I only hope he gets a proper job, unlike me and his father!''

Ribble Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans said: "Three cheers for William.

"I note that he has won the post as an Independent and has broken free of his father's Labour politics -- rather as Jack broke free of his left-wing past as NUS President.

"On that basis I look forward to welcoming William as a member of the Tory Party at some point in the future.''