Michelle Donelan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology | |
| In office 20 July 2023 – 5 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Chloe Smith |
| Succeeded by | Peter Kyle |
| In office 7 February 2023 – 28 April 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Chloe Smith |
| Minister on Leave | |
| In office 28 April 2023 – 20 July 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Interim | Chloe Smith[a] |
| Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | |
| In office 6 September 2022 – 7 February 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Nadine Dorries |
| Succeeded by | Lucy Frazer |
| Secretary of State for Education | |
| In office 5 July 2022 – 7 July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Nadhim Zahawi |
| Succeeded by | James Cleverly |
| Minister of State for Higher and Further Education[b] | |
| In office 13 February 2020 – 5 July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Chris Skidmore |
| Succeeded by | Andrea Jenkyns |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families | |
| In office 4 September 2019 – 13 February 2020[c] | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Kemi Badenoch |
| Succeeded by | Kemi Badenoch |
| Lord Commissioner of the Treasury | |
| In office 29 July 2019 – 13 February 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Quin |
| Succeeded by | James Morris |
| Assistant Government Whip | |
| In office 26 July 2018 – 29 July 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Theresa May |
| Member of Parliament forChippenham | |
| In office 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Duncan Hames |
| Succeeded by | Sarah Gibson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1984-04-08)8 April 1984 (age 41)[1] |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Tom Turner |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | The County High School, Leftwich[2] |
| Alma mater | University of York (BA)[1] |
| Website | michelledonelan |
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (born 8 April 1984) is a British former politician who served asSecretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from July 2023 to July 2024, having previously served in the position from February[3] to April 2023 before being temporarily replaced during her maternity leave.
A member of theConservative Party, Donelan also held three other cabinet positions from 2020 to 2023 underBoris Johnson,Liz Truss andRishi Sunak. She served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forChippenham inWiltshire from 2015 to 2024.
Donelan contested the newMelksham and Devizes constituency in July 2024 and was defeated.
Michelle Donelan was born in April 1984,[1] the daughter of Michael Donelan and his wife Kathleen Johnson, and grew up inWhitley,Cheshire.[4][5] At the age of 15, Donelan spoke at theConservative Party Conference inBlackpool,[2] having decided at the age of six to become a politician.[6]
Donelan was educated atThe County High School, Leftwich,[2] a state school, before graduating from theUniversity of York with aBachelor of Arts degree in history and politics. While at university, she was involved inYork Student Television.[1][2]
Donelan's career outside politics was in marketing, including a time working onMarie Claire magazine and forWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[1][7]
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Donelan stood at the2010 general election inWentworth and Dearne, coming second with 17.6% of the vote behind the incumbentLabour MPJohn Healey.[8][9]
She was then selected as theprospective parliamentary candidate forChippenham in February 2013.[7][1][10] After her selection at Chippenham, she became a trustee of Help Victims of Domestic Violence, a charitable organisation based in the town and a member of the Steering Group of Wiltshire Carers.
At the2015 general election, Donelan was elected to Parliament as MP for Chippenham with 47.6% of the vote and a majority of 10,076.[11][12][13]
Donelan served on theEducation Select Committee between 2015 and 2018.[14]
Before the2016 referendum, Donelan supported the UK remaining within theEuropean Union.[15]
Donelan was re-elected as MP for Chippenham at the snap2017 United Kingdom general election with 54.7% of the vote and a majority of 16,630.[16][17]
At the2019 general election, Donelan was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 54.3% and a decreased majority of 11,288.[18][19]
Donelan was appointed an assistantwhip in 2018[20] and a government whip in July 2019. In September 2019, she was appointedparliamentary under-secretary for children to cover maternity leave forKemi Badenoch.[21]
In theFebruary 2020 cabinet reshuffle, she becameMinister of State for Universities.[10][22][23] As of May 2020[update], her responsibilities included universities[2] and co-chairing the Family Justice Board, which oversees the performance of thefamily justice system and is advised by theFamily Justice Council.[24]
In the2021 cabinet reshuffle, her role was renamedMinister of State for Higher and Further Education, with the added right to attend cabinet. She was also sworn into thePrivy Council.
During her tenure in theDepartment for Education, she campaigned for freedom of speech in Universities.[25]
On 5 July 2022, in the wake of a large number ofresignations from thesecond Johnson ministry overBoris Johnson's handling of theChris Pincher scandal and other political scandals, Donelan, who was then serving asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education (previously named Minister of State for Higher and Further Education during her tenure) was promoted toSecretary of State for Education, after her predecessorNadhim Zahawi was appointedChancellor of the Exchequer.
On 7 July 2022, after less than 36 hours in the role, Donelan resigned as Secretary of State, writing that Johnson had "put us in an impossible position".[26] She was the shortest-serving cabinet member in British history, her tenure being shorter thanEarl Temple's four-day tenure asForeign Secretary in 1783.[27] Following reports she would receive severance pay at Secretary of State level despite her short tenure, Donelan refused this payment.[28]
Donelan initially backedNadhim Zahawi[29] in theJuly-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, later backingPenny Mordaunt following Zahawi's elimination from the contest. After Mordaunt's elimination she endorsed eventual victorLiz Truss.[30] After Truss resigned, she endorsedRishi Sunak in theOctober 2022 leadership election.[31][32]
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Donelan was appointedSecretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 7 September 2022 by then prime ministerLiz Truss.[33] Rishi Sunak succeeded Truss following the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, and Donelan retained her position in the cabinet.[34]
She stated in January 2023 that she was against returning theParthenon marbles to Greece, on the grounds that restitution would "open a can of worms" and be a "dangerous road to go down."[35] In the same month, Donelan cancelled a plan to privatiseChannel 4 that had been announced byNadine Dorries underBoris Johnson's premiership.[36]
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In areshuffle of Sunak's cabinet on 7 February 2023, Donelan was appointed to the newly created role ofSecretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.
It was announced on 21 April 2023 that during her maternity leave, Donelan would betemporarily replaced as Secretary of State byChloe Smith.[37] She returned to her ministerial role on Thursday 20 July 2023 after three months of ministerial maternity leave.[38]
Donelan's portfolio in theDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology included the controversialOnline Safety Act 2023. Under her leadership, the measure was amended and completed its passage through both Houses of Parliament.[39][40]
In April 2023, following the release of theGPT-4large language model, Donelan announced that the UK would spend £100 million in initial funding for the Foundation Model Taskforce, modelled on the success of theCOVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce, which would seek to ensure the responsible development of advancedartificial intelligence models and mitigate the risks. Soon after, hundreds of AI experts includingGeoffrey Hinton,Yoshua Bengio, andDemis Hassabis signed astatement acknowledging AI'srisk of extinction. Tech entrepreneurIan Hogarth, who warned about the race to "God-like AI" and urged governments to intervene with significant regulation, was later named chair of the taskforce.[41][42]
Donelan announced in November that the taskforce would become theAI Safety Institute.[43] In the same month, the inauguralAI Safety Summit was held atBletchley Park, which resulted in almost 30 countries, including the U.S. and China, signing a declaration calling for international cooperation to mitigate the risks posed by AI.[44] In April 2024, Donelan and US commerce secretaryGina Raimondo signed an agreement between the UK and US AI Safety Institutes, to allow them to work together on testing advanced AI models.[45][46]
In October 2023, in her role as science minister, Donelan wrote to the head ofUKRI (the body which directs government funding to research and innovation) suggesting that two academics recently appointed to a UKRI advisory group had expressed sympathy forHamas and shared extremist views.[47] The letter was also published at Donelan'sTwitter/X account. In response,Ottoline Leyser, UKRI chief executive, suspended the advisory panel and began an inquiry.[48] Over 2,500 academics signed an open letter condemning Donelan's accusation as an attack on academic freedom.[49]
In March 2024, Donelan publicly retracted the allegations and deleted the October tweet. One of the academics, Kate Sang ofHeriot-Watt University, had commenced alibel action against Donelan, who was represented by the government legal service.[50] According to Sang's lawyer, Donelan had based her allegations on a misleading press release from thePolicy Exchange lobby group.[51] Donelan's department paid compensation of £15,000 to Sang, plus legal costs. Donelan also apologised to the second appointee.[47][52][53] Sang's lawyer said "It is extraordinary that a minister should be guided by a lobby group into making serious false allegations about private citizens without doing the first piece of due diligence."[47]
The total cost to public funds was said in April 2024 to be more than £34,000, comprising the previously disclosed £15,000 compensation to Sang, alongside legal costs of £7785 for theGovernment Legal Department and £11,600 for external legal counsel.[54] In addition, UKRI spent £15,000 on the investigation and £8,280 on legal advice.[55]
In May 2023, Donelan announced she would be contesting at the next general election theMelksham and Devizes constituency,[56] where she lived,[57] as the boundaries of her Chippenham seat had beenredrawn. When the election took place in July 2024, she was defeated byBrian Mathew of theLiberal Democrats.[58]
Following her defeat at the 2024 general election, Donelan has worked as afreelance advisor.[59]
Donelan is married to Tom Turner. His family's firm Stronghold Global, a procurement company, has had government supply contracts.[60] In December 2022, Donelan announced that she was expecting a baby[61] and went onmaternity leave at the end of April 2023.[62]
She was appointed a member of thePrivy Council on 20 September 2021, invested via video link atBalmoral Castle.[63]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forChippenham 2015–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Commissioner of the Treasury 2019–2020 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of State for Higher and Further Education 2020–2022 (Known as Minister of State for Universities 2020–2021) | Succeeded byas Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, Further and Higher Education |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Education 2022 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 2022–2023 | Succeeded byas Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport |
| New office | Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology 2023–2024 | Succeeded by |
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