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

14 comments

1. Stupid stupid stupid.

   “Donelan apologised and paid damages last month after accusing two academics of “sharing extremist views”, and one of them, Prof Kate Sang, of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, of supporting Hamas.

   Sang launched a libel action against Donelan after the minister published a letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on her private account on X, urging it to cut links with Sang and Dr Kamna Patel, of University College London”

2. Repay it, plus admin costs, plus inflation at the rate MP’s salaries go up not the real inflation rate, then a fine added on top.

3. Ah, good old tories getting as much the public purse as they can.
   Meanwhile, going on about Rayner.
   Hypocrites and cunts every last one of them.

4. Did she really think she could get away with paying her personal legal bills from public money? She’s not Boris!

5. I know the NHS and Royal Mail (before privatisation) offer free legal services to employees would this not be a similar benefit? 

   Please note I have not paid attention to what they actually offer or what is covered so I maybe wrong. 

6. Around 30x what the media are hounding Rayner over currently.

7. If the government wrongly accuses you of a crime, arrests you, and then you are aquitted before the court or the case dropped, you may well find yourself being reimbursed about £500.

   This is because the government decided defendents, even if proven innocent, are not entitled to have their defence paid for by the taxpayer.

   This is known as the ‘innocence tax’.

   It therefore somewhat grates as someone who has paid the innocence tax in the past to see government ministers casually given tens of thousands to cover the civil costs arising from their own inanity.

8. This is sort of shit people should actually be furious at.

9. So stupid of her from start to finish. Why get involved? If I remember correctly it was social science & gender studies bods & as it says a board on ‘equality, diversity and inclusion’.

   Just let them do their thing. Why waste time sticking your oar in?

10. Well, I hope now it is the time to pay it back, with interests, like any loan.

11. She can afford it. People who can’t afford it get told to get fucked.

    This country is corrupt. And they pat themselves on the back and claim they’re doing a good job.

12. So she runs her big trap and it costs the public thousands of pounds..she could do us all a favour and quit before we have to divert more money away from something essential to bail this fuckwit out.

13. Either she went rogue and racked up a substantial legal bill on a private mission to hurt the careers of people she and her think tank friends don’t like.

    OR

    Shitposting on twitter is a key part of the cabinet minister’s brief, and everything cabinet members say on their personal social media accounts is subject to the ministerial code and collective responsibility

    Pick one.

14. She should be fired or repay it. Simple. Recall her as an MP if you’re in her constituency.