Am new here so greetings to all.

I have met my potential supervisor at Cambridge and he has now invited me to submit an application for PhD. But my MSc supervisor at QMUL says my MSc grades are not good enough for him to give me good reference for PhD. I have a good 2.1 in undergrad but during the MSc, I had to switch from full time to distance learning cos I was moving around the world for my job. Finished the MSc 3 yrs ago and have done great at work, giving speeches, publishing work, and doing loads of media interview. But am now scared that the MSc stuff could thwart my PhD dream. Please advise.

Well, this is my advice. When you are asked for references list your more recent employers then your undergraduate tutor. Only provide your master's supervisor if specifically asked (they will get a transcript anyway) and if so you might mention that you don't feel you did your best at that time because xyz. As long as you did well in your MSc, ie got a distinction or equivalent you should be OK.

yep! no point in listing someone who will give you a bad reference! at least he was honest enough to tell you first rather than sabotage your job.

Find the most suitable reference - and your reason might be that you have had little to no contact with this supervisor due to distant learning etc - but only if they ask

good luck

S