Oxford and other universities which have taken money from the Mosley family “must look at themselves” and “justify their decision in the court of public opinion”, the Education Secretary has warned speaking exclusively to the JC.  

In the first public comments by a Government Minister on the controversy, Nadim Zahawi cautioned: “I hope that they are looking very carefully about naming anything after the Mosley name.”  

The Secretary of State for Education was speaking after widespread outrage over the decision of a number of Oxford colleges, Imperial College London and other universities to take what’s been described as “tainted” money from a trust created by Max Mosley, who openly supported his father Oswald Mosley’s virulently antisemitic far-right movement in the Sixties.  

Oxford’s St Peter’s College and Lady Margaret Hall have together taken more than £12m of the trust’s money, part of which will go towards the Alexander Mosley Professor of Biophysics Fund. Imperial has accepted £2.4m of the Mosley cash while University College London took £500,000.   

Mr Zahawi said: “They have to look to be able to look at themselves and feel that they have followed the correct procedures. It is a tough decision that sometimes people have to make but one that they have to be able to justify in the court of public opinion.”  

He added: “I think it’s important that when they do accept any donation of any kind they are sensitive to issues of where the money came from, what the background is to it.”  

The donations come from The Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust (AMCT), named after Max Mosley’s son who died of a suspected drugs overdose in 2009 at the age of 39.   

Critics say that the money comes at least in part from Mosley’s father, Oswald Mosley, who was the leader of the British Union of Fascists, although Max Mosley, who died aged 81 in April, is believed to have added to his fortune through his leading role in motor racing.  

The Education Secretary said that “every educational institution in our country” should make sure that Jewish students “always feel listened to, and feel that they are able to enjoy everything about education and life in our schools and universities without the fear of antisemitism and what it brings with it".  

Mr Zahawi is in Poland on his first international trip as Secretary of State for Education. Speaking to the JC the day before he joins the European Jewish Association’s delegation to Auschwitz to mark the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, he also spoke about the Royal Court Theatre’s recent antisemitism controversy.  

The theatre has apologised for “unconscious bias” in giving a billionaire character in a new play the name Hershel Fink.  

“What happened at the Royal Court is an example of why we have to always remain vigilant to the stereotyping, to the characterisation, the dehumanisation, which is where it all begins.”

Ahead of his visit to Auschwitz, he said: “We have to redouble our efforts whether in the United Kingdom or here in Europe to make sure we always remain vigilant to antisemitism.”