Minister uses taxpayers money to pay for libel damages to scientist over Hamas claim

For free actual time breaking information alerts despatched straight to your inbox enroll to our breaking information emails

Sign up to our free breaking information emails

A cupboard minister has paid damages funded by taxpayer money to a tutorial after wrongly suggesting she had expressed sympathy for Hamas.

Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, apologised for her feedback about Professor Kate Sang and agreed to pay her an undisclosed sum on Tuesday, saying there was “no evidence” that the tutorial was a Hamas supporter.

It is known taxpayers lined the sum paid to Prof Sang and that it was handed over in an effort to scale back the prices that might consequence from protracted authorized motion.

Labour’s shadow science secretary Peter Kyle stated the secretary of state “must prove she still has confindence of the research community” and known as her allegations “a new low in government standards”.

The Liberal Democrats known as for an inquiry into what occurred in addition to “whether any rules wre broken and how much public money was spent”.

The deputy chief of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper MP additionally urged that the secretary of state ought to pay for the damages herself:

“Having the taxpayer shell out for Michelle Donelan’s damages and legal costs is nothing short of a national scandal.

“We need urgent answers from the Government but above all, Donelan must pay for this out of her own pocket. The actions she took were clearly outside and beyond her Ministerial brief.

She added: “Over the years we’ve seen a carousel of Conservative Ministers taking the taxpayer for a ride, from countless severance payments for disgraced sackings to this blatant misuse of taxpayer money. It’s time to kick this sleaze-ridden Conservative Government out of office for good.”

The minister had tweeted a letter she had written to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October, expressing “disgust and outrage” that Prof Sang and one other educational, Dr Kamna Patel, had “shared extremist views” and, in Prof Sang’s case, expressed sympathy for the terrorist group after the October 7 assaults in Israel.

The letter adopted a tweet by Prof Sang saying “this is disturbing”, and containing a hyperlink to an article by the Guardian describing the response to the Hamas assaults within the UK, whereas Dr Patel had retweeted a put up describing Israeli actions as “genocide and apartheid”.

Both teachers had lately been appointed to UKRI’s advisory group on equality, variety and inclusion.

UKRI – a non-departmental public physique sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) – suspended Sang and Patel whereas it carried out an investigation into Donelan’s allegations, which seem to have been triggered by a press launch by the assume tank Policy Exchange.

Ms Donelan stated they need to be faraway from their posts as they “appear to have contravened the Nolan principles of public life” which demand sure requirements from pubic servants.

Both Prof Sang and Dr Patel had been topic to an investigation by UKRI, which uncovered no proof that that they had expressed extremist views or help for Hamas, or breached the phrases of their appointments.

In an announcement on Tuesday, Ms Donelan accepted that Prof Sang’s feedback referred to the Guardian story as an entire, and never simply the headline, which centered on the Government’s crackdown on help for Hamas.

She stated: “I am grateful for Professor Sang’s clarification, and I am pleased to be able to withdraw my original concerns in relation to this specific tweet.

“I will make this clear to UKRI which has also now concluded that there is no evidence of any breach of the Nolan principles or failings in the appointment process to the EDI board.

“As I said to the media at the time, and I want to reiterate now: I have never thought or claimed that Professor Sang, or any member of the board, committed a criminal offence.

“I fully accept that she is not an extremist, a supporter of Hamas or any other proscribed organisation and I note that an independent investigation has concluded that there is no evidence that she is. I have deleted my original post to my X account.”

Prof Sang stated: “I am delighted that this matter has now concluded, but very disturbed by the way in which Michelle Donelan and UKRI behaved.

“Had they asked me at the start, I would have explained the true position. Instead, Michelle Donelan made a cheap political point at my expense and caused serious damage to my reputation. I propose to donate part of the damages she has paid to a charity.”

Dr Patel described the expertise as “distressing”, saying she was “glad” the method had concluded.

She stated: “There was never any need for UKRI to investigate as it should have been obvious from the start that we had not breached the Nolan principles or expressed extremist views.

“Worryingly, it appears UKRI were steered by who made the claim and not its substance.”

A Government supply stated the Prime Minister has “full confidence” in “excellent minister” Ms Donelan.

The University and College Union (UCU) criticised Ms Donelan for her “outrageous attack on academic freedom”.

Law agency Bindmans, which represented Prof Sang in her libel grievance, additionally criticised the assume tank Policy Exchange for placing out what it described as a “seriously misleading press release” concerning the teachers’ feedback.

Tamsin Allen, a accomplice at Bindmans, stated: “It is extraordinary that a minister should be guided by a lobby group into making serious false allegations about private citizens without doing the first piece of due diligence.”

Policy Exchange has been contacted for remark.