Will Michelle Donelan resign after paying damages to wrongly accused Research England advisory group members?
Budget eve is a good day to bury bad news. It was with impeccable timing, yesterday at 4.04pm, that science secretary Michelle Donelan posted a statement on her X account retracting claims she had previously made about members of Research England’s equality, diversity and inclusion advisory group.
In an extraordinary turn of events, the academics that Donelan said were holders of extremist views have been exonerated by a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) inquiry, while the secretary of state has agreed to pay damages to the academic she accused on social media of expressing support for Hamas. Many in the science and political worlds are wondering whether Donelan’s cabinet position is still tenable.
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