Science secretary pays damages to professor over extremism claims

The UK’s science secretary has paid damages to a professor whom she suggested had expressed sympathy for Hamas, it has emerged.

Earlier, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) announced that it had found no evidence of wrongdoing by members of Research England’s expert advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion, who had been the subject of a social media post by Michelle Donelan in the wake of the 7 October attack by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent retaliation in Gaza.

Now the law firm Bindmans has confirmed that Ms Donelan has paid undisclosed damages to one of the panel members, Kate Sang, professor of gender and employment studies at Heriot-Watt University. It is understood that the bill will be paid by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

In a post on X, Ms Donelan had claimed that members of the equality group had shared “extremist” and “unacceptable” views, saying that she was “outraged” that Professor Sang had, as she understood it, described the government’s plan to crack down on Hamas support in the UK as “disturbing”.

The science secretary also condemned the “amplification” of a tweet by the advisory body’s chair, Kamna Patel, a development studies academic at UCL, which “condemns violence on both sides but makes reference to Israel’s ‘genocide and apartheid’”.

In a statement posted on X on 5 March, Ms Donelan said that Professor Sang had clarified that her tweet related to the entirety of an article in The Guardian and not just the headline quoted in her tweet; and, on that basis, she had withdrawn her concerns about the tweet.

Bindmans said that Ms Donelan had based the false allegation on a report by the thinktank Policy Exchange.

Ms Donelan said that she “fully accept[ed]” that Professor Sang was “not an extremist, a supporter of Hamas or any other proscribed organisation” and that she had deleted her original post.

Speaking after the case was settled, Professor Sang said that she was “very disturbed by the way in 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,” Professor Sang said.

Ms Donelan’s intervention led to UKRI suspending the equality group, leading to a debate around freedom of speech, with several academics resigning from UKRI appointments as a result.

Following an independent investigation, UKRI’s board found no evidence of a breach of the advisory group’s terms of reference, and no failure to uphold the Nolan principles on public life.

UKRI said it “regrets any difficulties experienced” by members of the group and said that it “warmly invite[s] the group to reconvene and to contribute their expertise as we resume the group’s important work”.

Dr Patel said that 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,” Dr Patel said. “It has been a distressing series of events and I am glad that it has concluded with no finding against us.”

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said that Ms Donelan “must now apologise for throwing the careers of highly respected academics into turmoil for the sake of another Tory anti-woke headline”.

“This investigation completely exonerates our members and confirms Michelle Donelan’s unprecedented, politicised intervention was an outrageous attack on academic freedom,” Dr Grady said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com