Will They? Won’t They?

The vote of no confidence in the Universities Minister David Willetts has ended in a dead heat, with flip-flopping academics unable to make their minds up.

681 top Cambridge boffs voted for the motion condemning Willetts’ university policies, but bafflingly, exactly the same number voted against the motion, meaning the grace was not passed.

The result will be a blow for campaigners. A similar motion put forward in Oxford was passed almost unanimously by 283 votes to five.

It was Willetts wot won it

Almost 150 academics put the grace to Regent House, Cambridge’s governing body, as part of a nationwide campaign to pass motions of no confidence in the Minister in universities up and down the country.

But the boffins who put forward the motion were quick to issue a statement saying the result should not be interpreted as support for Willetts.

The statement said: “Not one item of campaign material, for or against the motion, argued in favour of current government policy. As such, the ‘no’ vote will have included a substantial number of votes from those motivated by procedural concerns.”

Campaigners say the split was due to academics who were miffed that the grace system was hijacked to make a political statement. Graces are normally used to make and change university legislation.

But don’t worry, Tabsters, if the academics can’t make up their mind, we’ll do it for them.

Take our poll below to decide what Cambridge really thinks of Willetts…