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Jason Arday was used by Cambridge University for 'bragging rights', Sir James Cleverly has claimed.

The shadow housing secretary said that senior staff there and at other universities presented Mr Arday with 'glee' because of his age and ethnicity rather than his talent.

Sir James added the 'terrible situation' was 'unfair to him' because it meant he had 'so far to fall'.

In addition, Cambridge's chancellor, Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury, said there had been a 'racist feeding frenzy' over the academic.

Mr Arday, 41, was found dead in Battersea, south London, on Friday.

It came just over a week after he resigned from his post at Jesus College, amid a row over plagiarism and his academic career.

He had been appointed professor of sociology of education at age 37, the youngest black person ever appointed to a professorship at Cambridge.

Sir James, who was Britain's first black home secretary and foreign secretary, said that he was 'incredibly angry' about how the situation had unfolded.

Jason Arday (pictured) was used by Cambridge University for 'bragging rights', Sir James Cleverly has claimed

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It could and should have never come this far, if people within the university establishment, not just Cambridge, had done the robust due diligence and checking that should happen with any senior academic appointment.

'I can't help but feel that the rush to use Jason Arday as a bragging right by some universities – the glee with which they said "we've got the youngest-ever black professor", talking about his age and his ethnicity rather than his talent, I think was part of the reason 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.'

Asked if he thought some of the scrutiny had been motivated by racism, Sir James answered: 'quite possibly'.

However, he said that the questions that had been asked about him were 'genuine and legitimate'.

'Had those same questions been asked by the institutions involved, he would never have been in such a personally exposed position,' he added.

'Anyone who puts themselves into the public eye should expect scrutiny. And he was pushed into the public eye. He was made the poster child, a wunderkind, and I think the people who did that – they surely should have known that a number of the claims he was making were impossible, literally impossible, and yet they did anyway.'

His words came after Cambridge's chancellor, Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury, spoke publicly for the first time about the affair.

He told the BBC: 'I do believe it is possible to hold to two principles at the same time: to believe in the importance of academic integrity, and where criticisms of plagiarism arise, about any academic, whoever they are, ensure that they are rigorously investigated.

'And also to refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic.'

Mr Arday's death was referred to the Coroner for the Inner South District of Greater London on Saturday.

No medical cause of death was given.

The coroner will now carry out an investigation, and then make a decision as to whether an inquest will open.

Cambridge initially said claims of plagiarism regarding Mr Arday's thesis and some journal publications had been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the journals in question.

LJMU, which awarded Professor Arday his PhD in 2015, concluded that he had not plagiarised work.

But last week, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into his appointment.

Mr Arday resigned but said this decision should not 'be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me'.

On Sunday, more than 200 people attended a vigil at Cambridge that was organised by Mr Arday's postdoctoral students.