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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Pippa Crerar Political editor

Michelle Donelan used £34,000 of taxpayer funds to cover libel costs

Michelle Donelan outside 10 Downing Street
Michelle Donelan wrongly accused an academic of supporting or sympathising with Hamas. Photograph: Thomas Krych/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

UK taxpayers have paid out more than £34,000 to cover the cost of the science secretary Michelle Donelan’s libel case, the Guardian can reveal, more than double the sum the government had previously admitted.

The legal fees racked up by the cabinet minister after wrongly accusing an academic of supporting or sympathising with Hamas cost the public an additional £19,000, on top of the £15,000 libel settlement.

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