A university chief has been suspended after claims of an overseas relationship with a young woman whose student fees he is said to have helped fund.
University of Buckingham vice-chancellor Prof James Tooley, 65, who denies the claims, is reported to have been temporarily stood down from his £229,000-a-year post at Britain’s leading private university following allegations regarding a woman in her twenties from India.
The accusations are said to have come from his 42-year-old wife Cynthia, 42, handing over copies of diaries penned by the younger woman.
The Times quoted her as saying she was 18 when she first met Prof Tooley, then in his fifties, and their sexual relationship started when she was aged 21 – though later updated this to suggest she was instead 25.
The alleged relationship began after the academic got involved in a project in the Indian city of Hyderabad aimed at providing low-cost private schools for poor communities.
He is said to have known the woman’s father and contributed towards her university tuition charges, before a relationship was struck up after she graduated.
Prof Tooley’s suspension was revealed in a letter to students in October this year.
He issued a statement through his lawyer branding claims made against him as ‘baseless and malicious’, adding that he would soon be ‘vindicated’.
University of Buckingham vice-chancellor James Tooley, 65, has reportedly been suspended after claims of an overseas relationship with a young woman whose student fees he helped fund
He is pictured here with his wife Cynthia at a Downing Street event, shared by her on Instagram
The woman now claiming to have had a relationship with Prof Tooley was quoted by the Times as saying: ‘Anyone who reads my diaries can see I was in love with him and wanted to be with him.
‘He was kind and thoughtful and always treated me with respect. People will say he used me because he has power and money. But that’s not the case. He is a good man who cares a lot about other people.’
The newspaper added that she later got in contact to clarify she was 25 when the relationship begun, while there was no suggestion of any illegal conduct.
It was reported that Cynthia Tooley alerted the University of Buckingham to the alleged relationship on October 11, prompting an emergency meeting followed by Prof Tooley’s suspension.
His wife is said to have made multiple accusations against him including the reporting of ‘a suspicious object’ at the VC’s official residence in Buckingham.
Police officers were reportedly called to the property and took away a junior air rifle, but did not pursue any further investigations.
MailOnline has contacted Prof Tooley, his wife Cynthia and the University of Buckingham for comment.
Cynthia, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur, TV personality and mother-of-two, married him after a whirlwind relationship in February 2022.
University of Buckingham VC James Tooley and his wife Cynthia outside 10 Downing Street
The couple parted over the summer, the Daily Mail has previously reported.
He asked her to move out of Ondaatje Hall, the Vice Chancellor’s grace-and-favour residence on the banks of the River Ouse, before she blocked him on social media and they now communicate via lawyers.
Announcing his suspension in October this year, university managers sent out a letter reading: ‘I am writing to inform you that the Vice Chancellor has been suspended following a number of serious allegations…
‘It is our intention to carry out an independent inquiry to ascertain the veracity of these claims.’
According to the letter, chief financial officer David Cole, chief administrative officer Chris Payne and pro vice-chancellor Harriet Dunbar-Morris have been asked to act as interim co-heads of the university.
Prof Tooley responded by issuing a statement through the firm Griffin Law rejecting the claims, saying: ‘The allegations made against me are baseless and malicious.
‘I look forward to being vindicated in due course, but in accordance with the University’s processes, I am unable to comment further at this time.
Buckingham students outside St Peter and St Paul Church on graduation day in 2009
‘I remain, however, a committed advocate of free speech and academic freedom.’
A University of Buckingham spokesman said: ‘We can confirm a member of the University staff has been suspended due to a number of serious allegations.
‘It is our intention that an independent inquiry be conducted to ascertain the veracity of these claims.
‘We are unable to make any further comment until this investigation is completed.’
Prof Tooley, who specialises in education policy, has led the private university since 2020, when he succeeded historian Sir Anthony Seldon.
Earlier this year, he unveiled a new course on the ‘woke‘ movement, with related MA and PhD programmes.
At the time, he said he had been inspired by Buckingham’s co-founder and former chancellor, Margaret Thatcher, who he felt had been ‘at his shoulder’.
He added: ‘Our vision is viewpoint diversity, we want to be a leader in academic freedom.
‘Nine out of ten social science academics in the UK are left-leaning.
The University of Buckingham, the country’s oldest private university, was founded in 1976 and granted university status seven years later
‘We want to give a voice to conservatism, classical liberalism and libertarianism.’
He has also criticised Cambridge University for ‘discriminating’ against privately educated white boys, because of diversity targets, while branding a drive to decolonise the curriculum as ‘dangerous’.
Buckingham, the country’s oldest private university, was founded in 1976 and granted university status seven years later.
Prof Tooley was formerly an academic at Newcastle University and has a PhD from the Institute of Education at the University of London.
