It cost taxpayers £15,000 to cover damages to an academic Science Secretary Michelle Donelan had falsely accused of supporting Hamas, her department has said.
The sum was paid “without admitting any liability”, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The Cabinet minister is facing calls to resign after she was forced to retract comments she made about Professor Kate Sang last year, saying there was “no evidence” the academic was a supporter of the militant group.
A sum of £15,000 was paid without admitting any liability
Prof Sang launched a libel action against Ms Donelan after the minister 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.
The letter followed a tweet by Prof Sang saying “This is disturbing”, and containing a link to an article by the Guardian describing the response to the Hamas attacks in the UK, while Dr Patel had retweeted a post describing Israeli actions as “genocide and apartheid”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Donelan accepted that Prof Sang’s comments referred to the Guardian story as a whole, and not just the headline, which focused on the Government’s crackdown on support for Hamas.
A DSIT spokesperson said: “There is an established precedent under multiple administrations that ministers are provided with legal support and representation where matters relate to their conduct and responsibilities as a minister, as was the case here.
“The Secretary of State received the appropriate advice from relevant officials at all times.
“A sum of £15,000 was paid without admitting any liability. This approach is intended to reduce the overall costs to the taxpayer that could result from protracted legal action, no matter what the result would have been.”