OXFORD UNIVERSITY accepted more than £12 million from a trust fund set up with money from fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, it has been revealed.

The cash is to be used to create an Alexander Mosley professor of biophysics fund at Lady Margaret Hall and to build a new student accommodation block at St Peter’s College.

The university defended its acceptance of the donations but was accused by one Oxford professor of “total moral failure.”

He described the donations as “tainted and dirty money.”

The money has come from the Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust (AMCT), which was set up by motor-racing tycoon the late Max Mosley from the money he inherited from his father, Sir Oswald Mosley, who in 1932 founded and led the British Union of Fascists.

The trust is named after Max Mosley’s son who attended St Peter’s but died of a heroin overdose in 2009.

Professor Lawrence Goldman, emeritus fellow in history at St Peter’s, said that if universities proved unable to govern themselves in line with moral principles, there was a case for state involvement.

“I believe these universities should largely be self-governing, but if they can’t govern themselves effectively, and according to the moral principles that I think most British people would expect of great universities, then there may be a role for the state,” he said.

“Oxford has lots of money and can continue to get money from other sources, it does all the time, and I don’t really buy the argument that because you can do some good in Oxford, you should just continue to hold on to what is essentially tainted and dirty money.”

Initially, the new accommodation block was to be called Alexander Mosley House but the college said a name will now be chosen through an internal consultation involving students.

Lord Mann, who represents the government on anti-semitism issues, said it was “absurd to give credibility to a family who were active fascists.”

The university said the donation, as all donations, passed a “robust, independent process taking legal, ethical and reputational issues into consideration.”

Imperial College London is also believed to have received almost £2.5 million from the Mosley Trust, and University College London took £500,000.