Sir James Cleverly said he was angry with the situation, and that this never would have happened if the “people within the university establishment – not just Cambridge – had done the robust due diligence and checking that should happen with any senior academic appointment”.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme on Monday, the shadow housing secretary said he felt Arday was used as “bragging rights by some universities”, and that people spoke of his “age and his ethnicity rather than his talent”.<\/p>\n
“I think it was part of the reason that he was lifted so high so quickly and then when the scrutiny did come – external to the universities – his reputation had so far to fall. I think it was unfair on him and I think it’s been a terrible, terrible situation.”<\/p>\n
Sir James – who was Britain’s first black home secretary and foreign secretary<\/a> – said much of the coverage surrounding Arday was “quite possibly” motivated by racism, but that the questions over plagiarism were legitimate, regardless of motivation.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, when housing minister Matthew Pennycook, was questioned over whether the press behaved poorly, he echoed comments by the prime minister<\/a> that it was not the time to “rush to judgement on this”.<\/p>\n “I do think the events leading up to his death raised questions about duty of care and the nature of modern media scrutiny, but I don’t think the time is now to get into a debate about those, I certainly don’t intend to sit here and opine on them myself,” he said.<\/p>\n Pennycook added that it was a time to reflect and “think compassionately about how we got to this situation, which is a desperately, desperately sad one”.<\/p>\n