UK taxpayers have financed a £15,000 payout to an academic after the science minister wrongly accused her of supporting Hamas, the department has said amid growing political anger at why public money was used. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said £15,000 had been paid after a statement on Tuesday by Michelle Donelan, about a “clarification” from Prof Kate Sang, of Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh, about her views. This money came from public funds, a DSIT spokesperson said, adding: “There is an established precedent under multiple administrations that ministers are provided with legal support and representation where matters relate to their conduct and responsibilities as a minister, as was the case here. “The secretary of state received the appropriate advice from relevant officials at all times. “A sum of £15,000 was paid without admitting any liability. This approach is intended to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action, no matter what the result would have been.”
It is understood that the payment was the only one made, with no extra contribution for Sang’s legal costs. DSIT declined to say how much Donelan’s own legal costs were. On Tuesday, the department had refused to say how much had been paid to Sang, saying only that it was a “nominal” sum. However, opposition parties and some Conservative MPs have expressed alarm that Donelan has been supported in this way, with one Tory backbencher saying it was “astonishing she still has a job”. Sang launched a libel action against Donelan after the minister published a letter to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October that urged it to cut links with Sang and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel of University College London. Donelan had described her “disgust and outrage” at their appointment to an expert advisory group to Research England on equality, diversity and inclusion. The institute suspended the advisory group’s operations while it carried out an investigation into Donelan’s allegations. These included that both academics had shared extremist content, and that Sang expressed sympathy for Hamas. Her evidence included Sang retweeting a Guardian article from last October headlined “Suella Braverman urges police to crack down on Hamas support in UK”, to which Sang added the comment: “This is disturbing.” In her statement, Donelan said she had been mistaken in taking this to mean support for Hamas, and that Sang’s comment had been about the article more widely. UKRI announced that its investigation found no evidence to back Donelan’s complaints against the academics, or any grounds to remove them from the advisory group. Peter Kyle, the shadow science secretary, said: “It is outrageous that £15,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent on the science secretary calling a scientist a terrorist sympathiser on social media, without any evidence at all. “Michelle Donelan should be embarrassed, she should apologise, and she should repay the full amount back to the taxpayer. Her conduct falls so far below that expected of a minister.” Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said: “This is nothing short of a scandal and we still don’t know the full legal costs. “If Michelle Donelan had a shred of integrity left, she would pay for this bill out of her own pocket instead of asking taxpayers to pick up the tab. If she refuses to do so, Rishi Sunak should dock her pay.” It comes on the same day that it emerged that a Conservative peer, the former MEP Jacqueline Foster, had apologised and paid damages to a doctoral student after wrongly saying an octopus soft toy used as her University Challenge team’s mascot was chosen as an antisemitic symbol. Lady Foster had already apologised publicly and privately to Melika Gorgianeh, a doctoral student in astrophysics at the University of Oxford, after comments made after the episode of the BBC Two quizshow was broadcast in November. In a new post on X on Wednesday, Lady Foster reiterated her apology and said she had paid “substantial damages and costs” to Gorgianeh. • This article was amended on 13 March 2024. An earlier version said that the two academics were suspended by UKRI while it investigated their social media activity; in fact the advisory group’s operations were suspended by UKRI while it investigated the academics’ social media activity.