Taxpayers foot invoice after Tory falsely accuses educational of assist for Hamas
Tory Cabinet minister Michelle Donelan is dealing with calls to resign after taxpayers had been pressured to foot the invoice for damages paid to an instructional.
The Science Secretary shared a grovelling apology to Professor Kate Sang on Tuesday after falsely suggesting the educational had expressed sympathy for Hamas. Retracting the feedback, Ms Donelan mentioned she had deleted her unique publish on Twitter/X.
She mentioned: “I quoted a tweet from Professor Sang which appeared to me to express disagreement with the Government’s crackdown on Hamas support in the UK and I suggested she was expressing sympathy and support for Hamas”. The senior minister added: “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.”
It is known taxpayers coated an undisclosed “nominal sum” to Prof Sang and that it was handed over in an effort to scale back the prices that would consequence from protracted authorized motion.
The University College Union (UCU) mentioned Ms Donelan ought to resign and accused the minister of “outrageous attack on academic freedom”. Labour demanded to understand how a lot taxpayers’ cash was spent and known as Ms Donelan’s false allegations in opposition to the lecturers a “new low in government standards”, whereas the Liberal Democrats known as for a Cabinet Office inquiry.
Labour’s Shadow Cabinet minister Peter Kyle mentioned: ”The Secretary of State should show she nonetheless has the boldness of the analysis neighborhood after utilizing her division to make false allegations in opposition to teachers. Accusing researchers of sharing extremist materials and sympathising with a proscribed group, with none proof, is a brand new low in authorities requirements.”
In October last year Ms Donelan shared a letter on Twitter/X suggesting the academic had expressed sympathy for Hamas after its attack on Israel. The minister had tweeted a letter she had written to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October, expressing “disgust and outrage” that Prof Sang and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel, had “shared extremist views” and, in Prof Sang’s case, expressed sympathy for the terrorist group after the October 7 attacks in Israel.
Both academics had recently been appointed to UKRI’s advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion and Ms Donelan said they should be removed from their posts. Prof Sang said: “I’m delighted that this matter has now concluded, however very disturbed by the best way by which Michelle Donelan and UKRI behaved.
“Had they asked me at the start, I would have explained the true position. Instead, Michelle Donelan made a cheap political point at my expense and caused serious damage to my reputation. I propose to donate part of the damages she has paid to a charity.”
Dr Patel described the expertise as “distressing”, saying she was “glad” the method had concluded. She mentioned: “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. Worryingly, it appears UKRI were steered by who made the claim and not its substance.”
