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

Exclusive: Science secretary’s legal fees of £19,000 more than doubled sum previously admitted by government

UK taxpayers have paid out more than £34,000 to cover the cost of 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.