Cambridge professor who resigned over plagiarism row claims publisher paid him '1.4million' for his memoir

Jason Arday, a professor of sociology of education at the prestigious university, was placed under formal investigation on Wednesday following allegations he plagiarised his PhD thesis and other research.

In a letter to colleagues, published on the Good Law Project website on Wednesday evening, Professor Arday announced his resignation and said the decision had been taken for the wellbeing of himself and his family.

The move came ahead of the publication of his biography 'Great and Unfortunate Things', which comes out next Tuesday in the US and on August 27 in the UK.

He has reportedly claimed publisher Simon and Schuster offered "1.4million" for a "pre-empt" deal, according to The Guardian.

This is an early offer for a book before it goes on auction.

Read more: Former neo-Nazi stands down as Tory candidate following backlash - as Badenoch appoints him 'cultural advisor'

Read more: Met Police firearms officer who killed Chris Kaba has misconduct proceedings against him dropped

The payment was very high but feasible if the company's UK and US arms joined forces to buy the book and sought international rights, industry experts say.

One senior publisher described the figure as mad number, but told The Guardian it is possible as “madness sometimes happens”.

They said a book of this nature would typically be expected to sell around 5,000 copies. It means with £2 of royalty for each copy, an advance of £10,000 and not 1.4 million dollars or pounds is likely.

The book is about the story of Professor Arday’s life, from receiving an autism diagnosis and global developmental delay aged three, to speaking his first words aged 11.

He claims in the book that he learned to read and write aged 18, before eventually becoming Cambridge's youngest ever Black professor aged 37 when he was appointed in 2023.

That was all before he became engulfed in a plagiarism row that ultimately sparked his resignation on Wednesday.

“It is with profound sadness that I write to resign, with immediate effect,” he said in his resignation letter.

Professor Arday said he had faced “an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack” since taking up the role.

“While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement,” he wrote.

“I no longer wish to feel as though I am living under a constant spotlight, where every aspect of my life is subject to public examination and judgement.”

He added: “For my own wellbeing, for my family, and for those who have stood by me throughout this difficult period, I have concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away.”

The University of Cambridge said it had launched an inquiry into concerns relating to Professor Arday’s “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”.

Speaking to LBC on Thursday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said that his police force made a mistake by launching a probe into the journalist who questioned Arday's academic record.

The Met Commissioner told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast: "We dropped the ball on that one - let's not beat around the bush.

"It should have been screened out as not requiring police action."

It has emerged that a journalist who emailed Arday with questions about his academic record was ordered by police to stop contacting the professor because it had affected his "mental health".

The Met Police spent four months looking into the harassment claim before closing the case in February.

The journalist, Jack Grove, was not interviewed and only learned of the investigation when the Met got in touch to inform him that the case had been closed, the Telegraph reports.

Asked by Nick why police had spent four months investigating the journalist, Sir Mark said: "In hindsight we shouldn't have done that. We shouldn't have made that call to him."

LBC has approached Simon and Schuster for comment.