The notion that levelling baseless allegations at private individuals on social media could form part of any ministerial brief is a novel one. Yet that appears to be the implication of the use of public funds to settle a libel case on behalf of the science minister, Michelle Donelan.
On Tuesday, Ms Donelan published a retraction of claims that Prof Kate Sang, a senior academic, had expressed support for Hamas on X, after she tweeted that the contents of a Guardian article published in the aftermath of 7 October were “disturbing”. The unfounded allegation was made by Ms Donelan the same month, in an open letter to UK Research and Innovation, a national research funding body. Posting the content on X, she called for Prof Sang and another academic to be removed from roles on an equality, diversity and inclusion committee, on the grounds of alleged extremism and support for a proscribed organisation.
It was nonsense, and Prof Sang sued. It subsequently emerged that the science secretary’s attempt to publicly name and shame her may have been triggered by a press release from the rightwing Policy Exchange thinktank. The £15,000 bill for damages and legal fees will now be covered by her department.
Where to begin? The government has so far refused to disclose the advice Ms Donelan received from officials before tweeting her false assertions. But the public purse should not be liable for the costs of a piece of reckless ministerial bullying on X, which stirred up an already fraught and polarising debate. Ms Donelan appears to have leapt to judgment after reading the headline of the article which Prof Sang retweeted. This was an extraordinarily irresponsible thing for a cabinet minister to do.
It also seems to be part of a wider pattern. As universities minister, Ms Donelan posed as a champion of free speech on the campus, arguing in 2022 that “students and lecturers should not be silenced”. Yet it was reported in the i newspaper that in November she requested a dossier be compiled on supposedly extreme social media posts by an academic. The file reportedly carried headings such as “anti-racism”, “transgender advocacy” and “militant leftism”. Ludicrously, the latter category apparently included posts expressing solidarity with strike action by lecturers.
This is insidious McCarthyite stuff, of a piece with other attempts by the government and thinktanks such as Policy Exchange to police the expression of leftwing ideas in academic institutions. The intimidatory nature of Ms Donelan’s verbal assault – compounded by the unusual decision to make it public – speaks of a repressive desire to restrict the parameters of legitimate debate. The full weight of cabinet authority was used to target members of the public, causing deep personal distress before the full exoneration of the academics this week, after an investigation. This was a shocking use of ministerial power.
Ms Donelan has deleted her letter and tweet. But that should not be the end of the matter. By failing to perform due diligence before making incendiary charges on social media, the secretary of state has behaved in a manner unworthy of her office. She has forfeited the trust of the research community as a result of this appalling episode, and her position has become untenable. She should resign, and, if she does not, Rishi Sunak should sack her.
