Controversial British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos has been nominated for the role of Glasgow University’s next rector.

He is one of 12 names who have been put forward by students at the institute with elections taking place every three years.

Yiannopoulos recently caused controversy by making comments alleging sexual relationships between younger boys and adults could be “consensual”. He later apologised for the comments.

A scheduled appearance at the American Conservative Union conference was cancelled after the backlash and a book deal was also withdrawn.

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The 32-year-old, known as a key figure in the so-called “alt-right”, was also previously banned from social networking site Twitter after comments made about black actress Leslie Jones starring in the 2016 Ghostbusters film.

After being nominated by at least ten students, the former Breitbart News editor has personally accepted the invitation to take part in the election process as per protocol.

Hours after the initial announcement of candidates he took to his Facebook page writing: “Tip for Glasgow students: Literally nothing will annoy your professors more than this.”

The university’s website read: “All nominees have personally agreed to take part in the election which will be conducted electronically and under the single-transferable-vote system from 9am on 20 March until 4pm on 21 March 2017.”

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National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden was elected in 2014 with his three-year term finishing upon the election of a new rector.

The role is to represent the interests of the university’s students, working with the Students Representative Council, and is expected to attend five meetings a year.

Among the other nominees this year are lawyer Aamer Anwar and former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, both former Glasgow University students.

Mr Anwar tweeted “I hope whoever wins is a voice [for] students but disgusted [at] those who nominated Milo Yiannopolous”.

Dr Leif Azzopardi, from the institute’s School of Computing Science, and lawyer Lady Cosgrove have also agreed to take part in the election as has environmental activist John Lindberg.

The full list of candidates is as follows: