Michelle Donelan has apologized for publicly posting a letter on social media that falsely suggested an academic was sympathetic to Hamas.
The science minister admitted she should have privately raised concerns about Professor Kate Sand’s views after the cabinet minister’s comments led to a libel lawsuit against the taxpayer. Pay £15,000 in damages.
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In a letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published on anger”.
The pair were recently appointed to UKRI’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group.
Speaking to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday, Ms Donelan said: “While I have always erred on the side of transparency, it is now clear to me that in this case I could have sent this letter to UKRI confidentially, so that they can investigate privately.
“I deeply apologize for my failure to do so and for any disruption this decision caused to the positive agenda of this administration.”
Ms Donelan has Faced with calls to resign and bear the costs of settling the defamation suit on its own after it becomes public. retract her remarks last week.
The letter comes after Professor Sand tweeted: “This is disturbing. Suela Braverman urges police to crack down on UK support for Hamas” and was accompanied by a Guardian article link, the article describes the UK’s response to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
In a statement last week, Ms Donelan took up Professor Son’s comments, referring to the entire Guardian report, not just the headline, which focused on the government’s crackdown on support for Hamas .
As a result of Ms Donelan’s letter, both Professor San and Dr Patel were investigated by UKRI, which found no evidence that they had expressed extremist views or support for Hamas, or breached the terms of their appointments.
Professor Sand launched libel proceedings against Ms Donelan and the science department last week revealed it had cost the taxpayer £15,000 to recoup the damage.
The government said the payment was made “without any admission of liability”, a move it said was aimed at reducing the overall cost to taxpayers that could result from protracted legal proceedings.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak Defending Ms Donelan’s retention In her post, she said he was “focused on the budget” and not her legal case.
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However decided outraged academiathey accused her of breaking trust between the government and researchers.
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Ms Donelan already sparked controversy in the scientific community when she vowed at the Conservative Party conference last year to “kick woke ideology out of science”.
A member of the group told Sky News that Ms Donelan’s intervention was “at best irresponsible and at worst a vicious and vindictive attack on individuals associated with EDI”.
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