Thread by @poppyeh

Want to know why Michelle Donelan was forced to make an extraordinary apology to two academics earlier today?

It's a bizarre tale involving Policy Exchange, a secret government dossier and a libel case paid for by the taxpayer

A short thread (1/10)

On 28 October, Donelan wrote to the head of UKRI, the national research funding body, calling for "swift action" against two academics, Professor Sang and Dr Patel

She shared her "disgust and outrage" at their "extremist" views

Three days later, UKRI suspended the two women

We revealed on 2 November that it had sparked a free speech row, with 2,500 academics signing an open letter attacking the suspensions

Donelan stood by her letter

She told @theipaper that "public bodies have a responsibility to uphold impartiality"

inews.co.uk/news/politics/…

On 3 November, we revealed that Donelan had ordered her officials to draw up a secret dossier on one of the academic's “militant left” social media posts

The 11-page dossier catalogued three years' of her posts on trans rights, Black Lives Matter & criticisms of No 10

The dossier accused the academic of having “attacked whiteness” and “endorsed scholarships for black students”

It included a screenshot of her sharing a tweet with the hashtag “trans is beautiful” from 2020 and her retweeting a post saying “happy trans day of visibility!”

The dossier also cited a tweet the academic shared in 2021 expressing her “solidarity with colleagues striking today”

It said this was an example of “militant leftism”

inews.co.uk/news/governmen…

At the time, I was struck that Policy Exchange had published a report denouncing "anti-Israeli academics" on the same day as Donelan's attack

In its report, Policy Exchange singled out two academics for their "radical views"

They were the same two Donelan later attacked

Today, Donelan was forced to apologise, retract her false allegations and pay damages following our reporting

UKRI cleared the academics of any wrongdoing

https://twitter.com/michelledonelan/status/1765045805822394491

Bindmans, the law firm representing the academics, drew attention to the fact that Donelan's attacks appeared to originate from...

....Policy Exchange's briefing note

Now, I can exclusively reveal that the taxpayer has also had to pay for Donelan's damages

We asked @SciTechgovuk how much taxpayers' money has been used to settle the libel case against Donelan

They refused to say...🤷‍♂️

inews.co.uk/news/politics/…

@SciTechgovuk The Lib Dems have now called for a Cabinet Office inquiry

@libdemdaisy said the public would be “shocked” to learn that UK taxpayers have funded Donelan’s damages and legal costs

John Glen, the Paymaster General, has now commented

He said the taxpayer paying damages on Donelan's behalf "follows established precedent" since her letter was "approved" by Government lawyers

He claims he doesn't know how much money the taxpayer paid

https://x.com/BBCWorldatOne/status/1765391831238365436?s=20

****Breaking: The "nominal" damages that the taxpayer paid on behalf on Michelle Donelan was £15,000***

It is unclear whether this includes the legal fees that the taxpayer was also forced to pay for Donelan

So, there we have it. The taxpayer paid £15,000 to cover a libel suit against Michelle Donelan after the Secretary of State wrongly accused academics of supporting Hamas

I'm told this was the "full and final amount". She now faces calls to resign

inews.co.uk/news/politics/…