Harlow's Halfon is a happy man
Robert Halfon
is a happy man.
This week the Conservative MP for Harlow posted an Early Day Motion (EDM) - which allows backbench MPs to express opinions - condemning "the £1.5m accepted by the London School of Economics (LSE) from the government of Libya in 2009".
He is delighted at the news that Sir Howard Davies, the director of the , has resigned over the University's links with the Gaddafi regime.
"I think that Howard Davies has done the honourable thing and resigned. They lost their moral compass," he says.
This week he told the House of Commons: "My grandfather was one of thousands of Jews who had to leave Libya because of Gaddafi's appropriation of Jewish businesses and homes, and he came to this country because of its democracy.
"He would have been shocked to have seen not only the close relations between the last Government and Gaddafi, but the acceptance by our distinguished universities, particularly the London School of Economics, of more than £1m from Gaddafi."
He thinks the LSE affair is just the tip of the iceberg.
"What is more worrying is that it seems that more universities were involved as well. I've done some research with the House of Commons Library and it seems that the Saudis have been giving millions to Universities across the UK, including Cambridge University which got £8m for an Islamic centre."
And indeed it did, in 2008 it announced the of Islamic Studies will enable the development of a "constructive and critical awareness of the role of Islam in wider society".
In another EDM, Mr Halfon "notes that universities from across the UK have accepted hundreds of millions of pounds from Middle Eastern dictatorships in recent years; and therefore calls on the Government to strengthen its scrutiny".
Mr Halfon believes: "British universities should not accept money from middle eastern dictators and tyrants."
He has now tabled 100 Freedom of Information requests to British universities, so expect more to come...
Welcome to the political blog for the East. I'm Deborah McGurran, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Political Editor for the region. From Lowestoft to Luton, this is the place for politics with an eastern twist.
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