‘Blood money’ university funding

Durham University and other institutions linked to Middle East dictatorships should have their funding cut, MPs have been told.

Conservative Robert Halfon called for Government cash to institutions such as the London School of Economics (LSE) and Exeter and Durham universities to be slashed because they accepted “blood money” from hardline regimes.

The LSE was given 1.5 million from a charity run by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif, who received his PhD from the university in 2009, forcing LSE council director Sir Howard Davies to quit.

Mr Halfon (Harlow) said: “On top of the LSE, it has emerged that Durham University has done deals with the Iranian regime and that the Muslim Research Centre at my old university of Exeter was funded by the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Speaking at Business Questions in the Commons, he added: “If a university takes blood money, it should lose an equivalent amount in public subsidy.”

Leader of the House Sir George Young said: “Universities are autonomous organisations and accountable for what they do.”