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Revelation comes after UKRI investigation exonerated equality advisers accused of “extremist views” by Michelle Donelan
Science secretary Michelle Donelan has agreed to pay damages to an academic at the centre of an explosive row over views held by members of a UK Research and Innovation advisory panel.
Earlier today, national funder UKRI published the findings of an investigation into concerns that Donelan raised last autumn. At the time she said some members of the equality, diversity and inclusion panel had shared “extremist views” about the Israel-Hamas war on social media.
The investigation exonerated the panel’s members and found no case for it to be shut down, which Donelan had urged UKRI to do.
Hamas support accusation
Following the appointment of members of the panel, on 28 October the science secretary published a letter to UKRI chief executive Ottoline Leyser on X (formerly Twitter), which named two members of the panel—Kate Sang of Heriot-Watt University and Kamna Patel of University College London.
In her letter, Donelan expressed “disgust and outrage” at their social media posts, accusing Sang of “expressing sympathy or support” for Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation.
This afternoon it emerged that Sang took legal action against Donelan. Bindmans, the legal firm representing Sang, said this afternoon that the secretary of state has “now withdrawn her false allegations and agreed to pay damages and costs to Professor Sang”.
Science secretary’s response
Donelan released a statement on X this afternoon, saying she was “pleased to be able to withdraw my original concerns” over the tweet that she had said suggested Sang was expressing sympathy and support for Hamas.
“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,” Donelan said.
The minister has also deleted her original post on X in which she made the allegations.
‘Seriously misleading’ press release
Bindmans said the basis for Donelan’s allegations was a “seriously misleading press release from the lobby group Policy Exchange”.
Sang had commented “this is disturbing” on a Guardian article posted on X with the headline “Suella Braverman urges police to crack down on Hamas support in UK”. But Bindmans said the Policy Exchange press release did not include a link to the full Guardian article, and that Sang’s post had been “taken out of context”.
Policy Exchange has been approached for comment.
In her statement today, Donelan said Sang had since clarified that her comment “was meant in relation to the entire Guardian article and not just the headline”.
Tamsin Allen who represented Sang in her libel complaint said it was “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”.
‘Cheap political point’
Sang said she was “delighted that this matter has now concluded, but very disturbed by the way in which Michelle Donelan and UKRI behaved”.
“Michelle Donelan made a cheap political point at my expense and caused serious damage to my reputation,” Sang added.
UKRI referred Research Professional News to a statement it published earlier today, that the agency “regrets any difficulties experienced by members of the Research England expert advisory group during this period”.
“The UKRI board would like to thank all those involved in this matter for their patience and understanding while the complex and sensitive issues that were raised were given due consideration,” the agency said.
Leyser said she hoped the investigation would “bring clear resolution in a way that best supports all of those who serve on our advisory groups, and research and innovation in the UK”.
‘A distressing series of events’
As well as finding no evidence of support for a proscribed terrorist organisation or the sharing of extremist material, UKRI’s investigation found “no failure to uphold” the Nolan principles of public life, which Donelan said panel members appeared to have “contravened”.
Patel said: “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.”
She said it appeared that UKRI was “steered by who made the claim and not its substance” and that it had been “a distressing series of events”.
The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology said the sum paid to Sang aimed to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could have resulted from protracted legal action. It declined to comment further.