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Universities and Gaddafi: is there more?

March 10, 2011 11:59
Rob Halfon

ByMartin Bright, Martin Bright

3 min read

The MP driving the investigations into the Gaddafi regime's controversial relationship with British universities has pledged to expose the full extent of their Middle East funding.

Robert Halfon, whose own grandfather was forced out of Libya in 1968, has made Freedom of Information requests to 100 of the country's top universities asking them to divulge all donations received from the Middle East and North Africa over the past
decade.

He said he was concerned whether there could be a connection between funding from the Middle East and extremism on campus.

Mr Halfon has also asked the universities to outline whether the donations came directly from governments and whether they were used to create a new department, fund an existing department or establish a fellowship. The Harlow MP has also tabled a series of questions across five government departments and the Prime Minister's Office to establish the lengths to which government ministers and officials went to facilitate business and academic links with the Gaddafi regime.