Michelle Donelan’s libel damages payment not approved by me, Jeremy Hunt claims

Michelle Donelan’s libel damages payment not approved by me, Jeremy Hunt claimsBreakfast, BBC

Transcript

00:00 This settlement that was paid to an academic after the science secretary

00:05 Michelle Donilon had falsely accused them of supporting Hamas. A settlement of

00:10 £15,000 has been paid by the taxpayer. Did you approve that?

00:18 I don't think I did because the Chancellor only approves much larger sums of money.

00:25 But it is normal practice that government lawyers support government ministers in legal

00:31 cases that are brought against government ministers in the course of their duties. This

00:36 was a payment that was made without omission of liability as I understand it. And it was

00:42 paid I think to reduce the cost that would be incurred to the taxpayer if there was a

00:47 protracted legal case.

00:50 So does that mean, I understand there's precedent there, you might well also understand the

00:55 lot of people very confused that the taxpayer has to pay up when Michelle Donilon makes

01:01 what appears to be a private comment, not directly linked to her work, she's the science

01:06 secretary. Do you think it's right that taxpayers, Beringham and what we've been talking about

01:12 today, do you think it's right?

01:16 Well, that would be a judgement for the permanent secretary of Michelle Donilon's department.

01:22 To be fair, you are the Chancellor. I appreciate there are responsibilities here. I'm asking

01:30 you as a grown up Chancellor who often handles difficult questions like this, what you think?

01:37 Yeah, and I'm telling you that the way government works is that politicians don't make decisions

01:45 as to whether legal fees in these situations should be paid by the taxpayer or paid by

01:51 an individual. That is made by civil servants, rightly so. In this case, the judgement was

01:57 that it was appropriate for that payment to be made.