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A top civil servant on the board of UK Research and Innovation helped science secretary Michelle Donelan draft false allegations of extremism against two advisers to the funding body, sparking claims of a conflict of interest.
Alexandra Jones, a government representative on the UKRI board, was involved in writing Donelan’s defamatory letter that she retracted this week as the government paid a £15,000 settlement, according to emails released under transparency laws.
In her October letter to UKRI chief executive Dame Ottoline Leyser, Donelan accused Professor Kate Sang and fellow adviser Kamna Patel of sharing extremist views and called for the funding body to close their advisory group.
Sang and Patel are members of an expert panel on equality, diversity and inclusion at Research England, which is part of UKRI.
This week, the Conservative minister retracted her claims about Sang and Patel and said she fully accepted Sang was “not an extremist, a supporter of Hamas or other proscribed organisation”. UK taxpayers paid £15,000 in legal fees and damages. Sang and Patel were cleared of any wrongdoing by UKRI.
UKRI is a non-departmental public body set up in 2018 to foster research in Britain.
One senior figure at UKRI said the involvement of Jones, a director general in the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), in Donelan’s letter represented a “potential conflict of interest”.
But they added that Jones’s involvement with the letter was known internally. The UKRI figure said Jones had explained, in their words, that she had “toned down” Donelan’s draft to turn it into “something less inflammatory”.
UKRI in October had immediately suspended Sang and Patel’s advisory group pending an investigation on receipt of Donelan’s letter.
At the time UKRI said the board, which included Jones, would take “appropriate actions” depending on the outcome of the investigation. The probe was carried out by CMP, a conflict management specialist.
It is unclear if Jones recused herself from the board’s discussion of the investigation results.
Jones is listed as a “board member” on the UKRI website. A person close to DSIT said she was an “invited observer” but not a “participating member” of the board.
The details about Jones’ role in drafting Donelan’s letter were contained in email correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Jesús Antonio Siller Farfán, an Oxford university academic.
The emails show that Jones told colleagues shortly after 9pm on Friday October 27 that she had “done some redrafting” of Donelan’s letter.
Just before midnight she circulated a new version “incorporating secretary of state firm steers” and adding some further changes suggested during internal discussions, according to the emails.
Donelan posted the letter on X the next day. She has since deleted the post.
Jones did not respond to a request for comment. UKRI referred inquiries on the matter to DSIT.
DSIT 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. And as is always the case, advice between officials and Ministers remains confidential.”