CALLS have been made for a Government inquiry into whether British universities have accepted funding from Middle Eastern dictatorships.

Robert Halfon, a former Exeter University student who is the Conservative MP for Harlow, has tabled an Early Day Motion which makes references to Exeter University and Libya.

He also questioned the sources of the funding for its European Muslim Research Centre and called for Government cash to institutions such as the London School of Economics (LSE), Exeter and Durham to be slashed because, he told the House of Commons, they accepted "blood money" from hardline regimes. The university has called his position "ill-informed".

In the Commons, Mr Halfon 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 Exeter was funded by the Muslim Brotherhood. If a university takes blood money, it should lose an equivalent amount in public subsidy."

In response, leader of the House Sir George Young said: "Universities are autonomous organisations and accountable for what they do."

But Mr Halfon went on to make a series of further allegations in an Early Day Motion he filed yesterday afternoon.

In it, he says: "Senior staff of Exeter University met with Colonel Gaddafi in 2003 in a bid to set up a £75 million deal which would see British universities educate elite Libyan officials; there was also announcements of a deal to set up an Exeter Centre for English in the Libyan capital of Tripoli; [it is accepted] that these plans were ultimately never pursued, but... the European Muslim Research Centre at the University of Exeter was launched after funding was provided by Islam Expo and the Cordoba Foundation (...both organisations being part of the UK Muslim Brotherhood). [The House] recognises also that IslamExpo is an event that is strongly associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood... and therefore calls upon the Government for an independent inquiry to trace the huge amounts of money from Middle Eastern dictatorships that has flowed into British universities, and also calls on the Government to introduce a mechanism whereby for every £1 that a British university receives in donations from a totalitarian or despotic regime... £1 should be withdrawn from that university in public subsidy."

The Muslim Brotherhood is the world world's oldest and largest Islamic political group.

Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer, co-director of the European Muslim Research Centre, described the MP's comments regarding the funding from Islam Expo and the Cordoba Foundation as "very ill-informed", adding: "We did take funding from the Cordoba Foundation and Islam Expo, but the notion that you can draw a line between despotic regimes and those two organisations is quite an aspersion, given that many people that participate in those organisations have been at the forefront of highlighting human rights abuses. The notion that there's a global Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy is a slightly dated notion, because there's no such thing as a card-carrying member of the Muslim Brotherhood. I think it's reactionary rather than factually informed."

On the funding from the two organisations, Dr Githens-Mazer added: "That money came in to fund specific research which they had no control over. It's disingenuous to somehow suggest that was 'blood money'. These are transparent organisations."

As the Echo has previously reported, the University of Exeter has sought to distance itself from Colonel Gaddafi.

A spokesman for the institution said: "University vice-chancellor Professor Steve Smith met Colonel Gaddafi at the request of the British Council and the government. No links were established, and there was no exchange of funds or gifts. The university is not aware of having received any funds from Libya, nor has it plans to do so."