Michelle Donelan has apologised for publicly posting a letter on social media which falsely suggested an academic had sympathy for Hamas.
The science secretary admitted she should have privately raised concerns about Professor Kate Sang’s views after the cabinet minister’s claims resulted in a libel action where taxpayers footed a £15,000 bill for damages.
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In a letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) posted on X, Ms Donelan expressed “disgust and outrage” that Prof Sang and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel, had “shared extremist views”.
The pair had recently been appointed to UKRI’s advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
Speaking to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday, Ms Donelan said: “While I always err on the side of transparency, I am now clear that in this case I could have sent the letter in confidence to the UKRI in order for them to undertake the investigations privately.
“And I do apologise for not having done so, and for any distraction that this decision has caused from this government’s positive agenda.”
Ms Donelan has faced calls to resign and cover the cost of settling the libel action herself after publicly retracting her remarks last week.
The letter followed a tweet by Prof Sang saying “this is disturbing”, with a link to a Guardian article describing the response in the UK to the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
In a statement last week, Ms Donelan accepted Prof Sang’s comments referred to the story as a whole, and not just the headline, which focused on the government’s crackdown on support for Hamas.
As a result of Ms Donelan’s letter, both Prof Sang and Dr Patel were subject to a probe by UKRI, which uncovered no evidence that they had expressed extremist views or support for Hamas, or breached the terms of their appointments.
Prof Sang launched a libel action against Ms Donelan, with the science department revealing last week that it cost taxpayers £15,000 to cover the damages.
The sum was paid “without admitting any liability”, according to the government which said the approach was intended to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended keeping Ms Donelan in her post, saying he was “focused on the budget” rather than her legal case.
However the decision has angered academics, who have accused her of undermining trust between the government and researchers.
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Ms Donelan had already stirred controversy in the scientific community for vowing at the Tory party conference last year to “kick woke ideology out of science”.
One member of the group told Sky News that Ms Donelan’s intervention was “irresponsible at best, but a malicious and vindictive attack on individuals connected with EDI at worse”.
