Poppy Wood
@poppyeh
Followers
7,442
Following
3,319
Media
95
Statuses
1,335
Politics @theipaper reporting from Westminster Email: poppy.wood @inews .co.uk
London, England
Joined April 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Mother's Day
• 1167929 Tweets
Arsenal
• 355563 Tweets
Feliz Dia
• 309445 Tweets
Mães
• 264314 Tweets
Moms
• 259220 Tweets
#鬼滅の刃
• 173388 Tweets
Manchester United
• 110617 Tweets
NAYEON
• 90107 Tweets
#MUNARS
• 69554 Tweets
Saka
• 47175 Tweets
Casemiro
• 45796 Tweets
Karagümrük
• 41651 Tweets
Old Trafford
• 37759 Tweets
Man U
• 32490 Tweets
ヒロアカ
• 32366 Tweets
Amad
• 30586 Tweets
Garnacho
• 28526 Tweets
Evans
• 26647 Tweets
Arapça
• 25556 Tweets
Antony
• 23445 Tweets
Arteta
• 22643 Tweets
Trossard
• 22530 Tweets
Hojlund
• 18909 Tweets
ارسنال
• 15321 Tweets
Onana
• 14686 Tweets
Amrabat
• 14104 Tweets
Partey
• 13846 Tweets
アニオリ
• 11762 Tweets
伊黒さん
• 11084 Tweets
Want to know why Michelle Donelan was forced to make an extraordinary apology to two academics earlier today?
It's a bizarre tale involving Policy Exchange, a secret government dossier and a libel case paid for by the taxpayer
A short thread (1/10)
252
4K
7K
Sajid Javid is understood to have held a face-to-face meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday, raising the possibility that Boris Johnson will be self-isolating on "Freedom Day" on Monday
Health Secretary Sajid Javid tests positive for Covid days before 'freedom day'
96
65
193
283
999
4K
Enjoyed Lee Anderson calling me "Mrs Journalist" when I asked if he still thinks poverty in Britain is "nonsense"
He denied he said this, I quoted his own words back to him and he said: "Well Mrs Journalist go and find me that family [in extreme poverty] - I'll give you a year"
214
560
3K
@SciTechgovuk
The Lib Dems have now called for a Cabinet Office inquiry
@libdemdaisy
said the public would be “shocked” to learn that UK taxpayers have funded Donelan’s damages and legal costs
44
695
3K
Excl: A London property firm owned by the family of Tory minister Lord Benyon offered to send tenants a list of local food banks after raising rents in Hackney by almost £1,000 a year
135
2K
2K
Now, I can exclusively reveal that the taxpayer has also had to pay for Donelan's damages
We asked
@SciTechgovuk
how much taxpayers' money has been used to settle the libel case against Donelan
They refused to say...🤷♂️
38
831
2K
Wow. Penny Mordaunt suggests the public should be grateful for Michelle Donelan as she didn't take a £16,000 redundancy payout she was entitled to after resigning as Education Secretary after.... two days
She suggests this wipes out the £15,000 the taxpayer paid for Donelan
396
901
2K
Bindmans, the law firm representing the academics, drew attention to the fact that Donelan's attacks appeared to originate from...
....Policy Exchange's briefing note
7
330
2K
Today, Donelan was forced to apologise, retract her false allegations and pay damages following our reporting
UKRI cleared the academics of any wrongdoing
My statement on recent correspondence relating to Research England’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expert Advisory Group.
2K
194
182
29
339
2K
On 3 November, we revealed that Donelan had ordered her officials to draw up a secret dossier on one of the academic's “militant left” social media posts
The 11-page dossier catalogued three years' of her posts on trans rights, Black Lives Matter & criticisms of No 10
5
264
1K
At the time, I was struck that Policy Exchange had published a report denouncing "anti-Israeli academics" on the same day as Donelan's attack
In its report, Policy Exchange singled out two academics for their "radical views"
They were the same two Donelan later attacked
7
225
1K
We revealed on 2 November that it had sparked a free speech row, with 2,500 academics signing an open letter attacking the suspensions
Donelan stood by her letter
She told
@theipaper
that "public bodies have a responsibility to uphold impartiality"
3
188
969
The dossier accused the academic of having “attacked whiteness” and “endorsed scholarships for black students”
It included a screenshot of her sharing a tweet with the hashtag “trans is beautiful” from 2020 and her retweeting a post saying “happy trans day of visibility!”
2
163
958
On 28 October, Donelan wrote to the head of UKRI, the national research funding body, calling for "swift action" against two academics, Professor Sang and Dr Patel
She shared her "disgust and outrage" at their "extremist" views
Three days later, UKRI suspended the two women
16
218
931
The dossier also cited a tweet the academic shared in 2021 expressing her “solidarity with colleagues striking today”
It said this was an example of “militant leftism”
1
163
929
One in six male Tory MPs currently employs his wife or partner on the public purse 👛 👛 👛
One in eight MPs employs a family member using taxpayer cash - costing up to £2.5m a year
37
187
200
16
172
764
So, there we have it. The taxpayer paid £15,000 to cover a libel suit against Michelle Donelan after the Secretary of State wrongly accused academics of supporting Hamas
I'm told this was the "full and final amount". She now faces calls to resign
30
211
659
Michelle Donelan claims there was "categorically no surveillance" of either of the 2 academics by her dept – "that would be outrageous"
She fails to mention the 11-page dossier she ordered her advisers to compile on 1 of the academics prior to the letter
14
235
642
The court hears that Wayne Rooney has a private Instagram account with the handle Wazzaroon08
5
76
605
Michelle Donelan gave a speech at Policy Exchange in 2022 titled "In Defence of Free Speech"
Here's a screenshot of her speech taken from the Government website in which she condemns attempts to cancel academics
13
206
518
In the same huddle with journalists, Lee Anderson said:
People want to "stop seeing illegal migrants in hotels, when we’ve got our own homeless people living on the streets"
37
43
491
Excl: Labour will introduce VAT for private schools immediately if it wins the general election, meaning parents could face fee hikes as soon as next year
140
62
401
Slight correction… ****Michelle Donelan is not paying for the damages****
As we revealed, they’ve already been paid, and the taxpayer paid for them
Buuuuuut, the Government isn’t saying how much
You need to read the science secretary of state’s withdrawal of extremism claims against a scientist (below) in conjunction with this lawyer’s statement. It is quite the story. I can’t remember another occasion where a serving minister paid damages for…
461
1K
3K
9
172
376
****Breaking: The "nominal" damages that the taxpayer paid on behalf on Michelle Donelan was £15,000***
It is unclear whether this includes the legal fees that the taxpayer was also forced to pay for Donelan
3
84
360
Donelan now claims she DID receive legal sign-off to share the letter publicly
"Both policy and legal were not only cited but also cleared the approach taken"
Begs the question of why it's taken a week to state that on the record after repeated refusals to comment
8
90
346
Exclusive: Labour has U-turned on it's promise to end the charitable status of private schools
The party will still apply 20% VAT on private school fees if it wins the general election, but it will not scrap tax exemptions associated with charity status
106
154
291
John Glen, the Paymaster General, has now commented
He said the taxpayer paying damages on Donelan's behalf "follows established precedent" since her letter was "approved" by Government lawyers
He claims he doesn't know how much money the taxpayer paid
Watch as
@Sarah_Montague
asks Conservative MP and Paymaster General John Glen why the taxpayer has had to foot the bill after Science Secretary Michelle Donelan was ordered to pay damages to two academics she accused of sharing extremist views.
#BBCWato
5
33
59
5
73
300
Another twist
Documents revealed via this FOI show Michelle Donelan’s department was scrabbling around for legal advice on her letter at 11.58pm on the night before she hit send
“Thank you everyone for disrupting your Friday night for this”
The letter issued by
@michelledonelan
to
@UKRI_CEO
@UKRI_News
was technically vetted, but this was done late at night in < 2 hours.
@rosenbaum6
@GeorgeGreenwood
@e_casalicchio
@LucyMPowell
@guardian
@politico
@POLITICOEurope
@poppyeh
@MrHarryCole
@PA
1
27
43
6
142
286
DUP MP Carla Lockhart has also liked tweets hailing the decision to overturn Roe v Wade as a “great day” and praying that “the UK and Ireland are next”
Conservative MP Scott Benton celebrates the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. In 22 states, that means near-immediate abortion bans.
There are men in our Parliament who’d take women’s rights back to the Victorian era if they could.
774
4K
18K
17
76
235
Two JCVI members told me they were not told about the updated advice for clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people that came out this week. They're now pushing for vaccines to be made available for all CEV children and children living in CEV families
21
98
211
EXCL: Six people from Rwanda have been granted asylum in the UK since the Government signed its deportation deal with the country in 2022
Experts say it “fatally undermines” the Government’s claim Rwanda is a safe country
9
108
203
The Lionesses have now issued an open letter calling on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to ensure girls have equal access to football in schools following our
@theipaper
front page today
8
73
195
The Govt has confirmed after an FOI request by Research Professional News that Michelle Donelan’s legal fees cost an extra £19,000 on top of the £15,000 libel bill
Funny that on Monday it blocked my FOI asking the exact same thing and said a public interest test was needed
Exclusive.
The government spent more than £23k on legal services related to Michelle Donelan’s letter to UK Research and Innovation about members of an advisory panel, bringing the total cost of the incident to the government & UKRI to more than £60k.
11
178
247
4
89
187
Coleen Rooney is told her beliefs do not amount to evidence
“You might believe that Derby County will win the premiership in two years time, but it’s not evidence that they’re going to, is it?”
Wayne Rooney, who is the manager of Derby County, stares off in the other direction
9
23
182
Boris Johnson says "I have no idea what quotation he's alluding to" when David Davis quotes Leo Amery's famous "in the name of God, go" in calling for PM to resign.
But he also claims in the bibliography of his Churchill bio to have read two volumes of Leo Amery's diaries 🧐
17
55
167
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer brings up past comments from Rebekah Vardy
“Arguing with Coleen is like arguing with a pigeon.
“You can tell it that you are right and it is wrong, but it’s still going to shit in your hair.”
2
18
161
Exclusive: Tory MP Adam Afriyie has been accused of breaching lobbying rules after he pushed ministers to put vaping at the heart of the UK’s anti-smoking drive, without declaring his wife's shares in a vape retailer
11
99
156
I was told earlier today that Michelle Donelan wanted to publish a much more inflammatory letter but officials talked her down
Her department refused to comment
But these docs, with an attachment called “letter-to-ottoline-post-edit-update.doc.x”, appear to confirm this
4
58
144
The Shadow Science Secretary has written to Michelle Donelan demanding answers on crucial questions
He calls for her to explain the 11-page dossier we revealed last year, which accused one academic of promoting "militant leftism" and "trans advocacy"
I’ve written to
@michelledonelan
seeking urgent answers to the many outstanding issues resulting from her unfounded accusations and subsequent taxpayer funded settlement
74
699
2K
2
46
132
In Michelle Donelan's first appearance since we revealed the taxpayer paid her £15,000 libel bill...
She admits she "could have sent the letter" privately instead of sharing it on Twitter, which sparked the libel case
The Govt is still refusing to say if she had the OK to do so
13
74
129
It’s………. The first day of the Wagatha Christie trial and I’m here at the High Court. Follow below for updates!
4
6
110
Excl: Tory MP Adam Afriyie has won a lobbying award from the vaping industry for promoting vaping in the House of Commons
He’s still not declared his wife’s shares in a vape retailer, and we’ve now seen she has further shares in a disposable vape firm
10
83
107
Vardy’s lawyer: You put this post up on Insta in Nov 2017 so if someone followed you in 2018 they wouldn’t be able to see it
Rooney: No it’s a post so they can scroll back
Vardy’s lawyer: But it’s quite hard to scroll back through old posts on Instagram isn’t it?
Rooney: No
4
8
95
Wayne Rooney has been staring at the opposite side of the courtroom to Rebekah Vardy all morning — it seems not out of solidarity to his wife but simply because he is staring into space
4
17
99
Asked why he didn’t get involved in the Wagatha Christie case, Wayne Rooney says:
“My wife is an independent woman who does her own thing”
2
3
90
Rishi Sunak was spotted wearing a £3,500 suit this morning as he left his campaign office on crunch day for the Tory leadership race
He was accused of being "out of touch" last week after wearing £490 Prada shoes to a building site in Teesside
70
41
90
PR consultant Penny Adaarewa takes the witness stand to defend Coleen Rooney
“You say here in your witness statement that a meeting took place at a restaurant/bistro. What does that mean?” asks Vardy’s lawyer
“It means it took place at either a bistro or restaurant,” she says
2
3
83
The court has released screenshots of the fake stories Coleen Rooney posted to Instagram to try and snare Rebekah Vardy
N.b “Seen by 1”
It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account
1
8
84
Michelle Donelan says “we have been very transparent” about all the legal costs in her libel case, after it emerged yesterday the total bill is £34,000
But Govt officials told us last month that the £15,000 was the “full and final” amount and there were no other legal costs
🚨Michelle Donelan responds to story by
@PippaCrerar
yesterday
She insists ‘we have been transparent’ after it was revealed her libel bills cost the taxpayer more than £34k - beyond double what govt previously reported
2
4
9
1
36
83
One big question: the Govt is refusing to say whether Michelle Donelan received the OK from lawyers to tweet the letter
They confirmed she received legal advice on the letter but not on whether she could share it publicly, which sparked the libel case
3
34
83
Breaking: The Health Department has chosen today of all days to quietly announce that it is scrapping the temporary provision for at-home abortions that was granted in England during the pandemic
From 29 August people will only be able to have abortions at registered clinics
10
69
76
Lots of vulnerable people still can't get booster jabs. Campaign groups are calling for an expansion of the booster programme and an immediate rollout of some of the measures in the Government's Plan B
2
26
72
Excl: Oxford and Cambridge universities have banned ChatGPT for all assessed work over plagiarism fears
In total, 4 in 10 British universities said they have prohibited the AI chatbot or are currently updating their policies to do so
5
32
74
New: I understand that the Government paid damages to the academic, not Michelle Donelan
It means the Government's free speech row and a minister's extraordinary, false claims against an academic, has literally cost the taxpayer
Michelle Donelan has now issued a full retraction of her claims against one of the academics, who she previously accused of sharing “extremist” views
I understand this was the subject of a libel case, and Donelan has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to her
0
3
7
4
35
73
Morning 👋 Day 3 of the Wagatha Christie trial at the High Court
Rebekah Vardy is up in the witness stand in a power blazer and maxi dress. Not a glance at Coleen Rooney and husband Wayne as they take their seats in the courtroom.
Follow below for updates 👇
3
6
68
“If I’m honest…” starts Vardy as she’s asked about the Wag photo
Mr Sherborne jumps in
“We’ll I’d much rather you’re honest because you’re standing in the witness box”
2
9
66
Mr Sherborne returns to the fact that Vardy’s agent’s phone is “lying at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones' Locker"
Vardy looks up at the judge blankly
"He just means the bottom of the sea", says the judge
"Sorry, I didn't understand that,” replies Vardy
4
9
60
Huge queue for a food bank right outside the gates for Conservative party conference
A volunteer for Outreach Angels tells me that the location is a coincidence. They meet here every Tuesday and usually serve more than 100 people. She says the queue is shorter than usual
3
53
61
“To be honest with you…” Coleen Rooney says, before stopping herself and laughing. “Sorry to be using that”
It comes after her lawyer told Rebekah Vardy yesterday he’d “rather you’d be honest since you’re in the witness stand” when she said the same thing
1
6
53
Breaking: Rebekah Vardy loses the Wagatha Christie case against Coleen Rooney
3
14
52
Coleen Rooney is being asked about Caroline Watt’s access to Rebekah Vardy’s Instagram account. Vardy’s lawyer suggests Watt abused her trust
“It’s not nice when people abuse that trust, is it Mrs Rooney?” he says
“No, it’s sad,” she says, tilting her head and looking at Vardy
2
6
51
Morning! Day 4 of the Wagatha Christie trial
Rebekah Vardy is back in the stand for questions from her lawyers — no more cross-examination for her (phew!)
Coleen Rooney will face a grilling in the witness stand from Vardy’s lawyers this afternoon
More updates below 👇
1
3
52
For those saying "so what?", Rishi Sunak's suit costs:
* More than 10x the amount of the first cost of living support payment for the poorest families
* 20x the amount of the disability cost of living payment
* £300 more than a typical family's entire energy bill this year
40
12
47
Depp admits there might have been some "overlap" between his relationship with Amber Heard and a woman named "Rochelle". Defence claims this caused explosive arguments
23
17
39
Wayne is keeping his answers short and sweet
So far he’s said:
“I was”
“He was”
“They was”
2
3
42
Coleen Rooney's lawyer sums up his cross-examination of Rebekah Vardy
"Would you not agree Mrs Vardy that if it looks like a leak, it sounds like a leak, and you even use the word leak, that it is more likely than not to be a leak?”
“No,” says Vardy, wiping a tear from her eye
2
0
40
This investigation by the Observer looks familiar… maybe because we did it two weeks ago
Our new investigation in tomorrow’s Observer 👇
Revealed: UK granted asylum to Rwandan refugees while arguing country was safe
105
3K
6K
3
8
42
Dido Harding hasn't appeared before a Downing Street press conference since last June. Since then, Test and Trace's budget has more than doubled to £22bn. We need to stop calling it NHS Test and Trace because doing so lends it a veneer of accountability that it doesn't have
5
14
37
Despite not being available to the wider public, the government has so far spent almost £800,000 on a website for ordering antibody tests. Guess who got the contract? The same company who made that government careers quiz
1
27
41
Day 6 - Penultimate day of the Wagatha Christie trial
Jamie Vardy is here for the first time to support his wife Rebekah Vardy. They’ll both watch Wayne Rooney take the witness stand this morning
Updates below 👇
2
5
42
Five years on from Grenfell, more than a million people are still stuck in high-rise towers with unsafe cladding
Some of them have missed out on having a family because they’re stuck in cladding limbo. Others are still unable to sleep
2
32
40
This story from the Telegraph looks familiar... because I broke it a month ago!
📲One of the companies involved in the Covid-19 vaccine passport has said that the system could be "redeployed" as a national ID card, amid concerns over “mission creep”
78
151
176
0
10
39
Imagine dialling a wrong number and somehow ending up in a Brexit meeting
2
13
39
Boris Johnson: “It’s my strong impression that they genuinely believed what they were doing was working”
“I certainly don’t think they set out to deceive you about that”
Sue Gray’s report:
0
22
38
The two men are now sitting at either end of the same 3m wooden table
Jamie Vardy is staring up intently at an IT expert on the stand
Wayne Rooney is staring into the distance - specifically, at an oak-panelled table that has hogged much of his attention over the past week
2
0
36
Morning 👋 final day of the Wagatha Christie trial
The Rooneys won’t be making an appearance today and have apparently already jetted off on holiday
Rebekah Vardy has let her hair down (quite literally) and has the front row of the courtroom all to herself
1
4
37
Defence brings up past quote of Depp's slamming Heard's "actress bullshit and her fucking ambition".
He tells the court: “If you don’t want to be objectified then in my opinion one should stick to their guns and one should not wear certain things to premieres that are revealing"
18
22
33
An independent inquiry has found there were "no grounds" to suspend UKRI academics over their political views
The UCU says the Govt now faces "serious questions" over why it compiled a secret dossier on their social media use, as we revealed last year
‘This investigation completely exonerates our members and confirms Michelle Donelan's unprecedented, politicised intervention was an outrageous attack on academic freedom.'
Full statement from
@DrJoGrady
👉
0
99
178
0
21
36
A first time for everything… including sports commentary! My analysis of the Djokovic saga
2
2
34
Some screenshots of texts between Rebekah Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt (who was unable to provide evidence because she dropped her phone in the North Sea)
2
2
35
Chefs, farmers, waitresses and pub landlords take to Parliament Square at the
#HospoDemo
to bang their pots and pans at the government over the crisis facing the UK hospitality industry
2
15
31
Rooney wrote in her W.S. that “for the avoidance of any doubt” she did not tell anyone about her Sting Operation
“That’s very lawyer-y language, did you write it yourself?” asks Vardy’s lawyer
“Well yeah, when I’m doing a legal document I like to do it properly,” says Rooney
1
2
33
Full story here:
6
22
31
The Pope slams excessive media attention on Wagatha Christie
As a Church, we need to return to what is essential instead of losing ourselves in so many secondary things, running the risk of losing sight of the simple purity of the Gospel.
480
2K
15K
4
1
31
Excl: The Government has been monitoring academics’ social media profiles for posts on trans rights, Black Lives Matter, lecturer strikes and criticisms of No 10
📑 We’ve seen an 11-page internal Government dossier on one academic created last week
2
32
31
Lioness goalkeeper Mary Earps has been on BBC Breakfast responding to our front page. She called for football to be added to the national curriculum
The Government has refused to do so and guidance states that girls should be offered "comparable sports"
0
26
29
“It’s been a long week,” Wayne Rooney tells the court
“Sitting here in the courtroom this week is the first time I’m hearing almost everything on the case,” he says, sounding both exhausted and bemused
1
3
29
The Rooney-Vardy shade has spread to the men in the family
Asked why he didn’t have a word with Jamie Vardy about Wagatha, Wayne Rooney says:
“Jamie was a teammate on the national team. He’s not someone I’ve ever been particular friends with outside the team on a social level”
2
2
27
Excl: The Government has signed a £21m renewable contract for vaccine passports, despite Michael Gove saying today that a review into Covid-status certifications is still "ongoing"
@theipaper
6
26
28
Every time Vardy’s lawyer uses the word ‘Wags’ Rooney says: “Yes the wives and girlfriends of current or former football players”
“Sorry I know it’s not a very respectful term,” says Vardy’s lawyer
“No it’s not very disrespectful, it’s just a word that I don’t use,” says Rooney
1
2
28
Excl: How the Government appeared to fall for a targeted campaign by Right to Life groups (until yesterday's vote overturned the decision on at-home abortions)
Half of 18,000 responses to a consultation on "pills by post" were from anti-abortion groups
2
25
28
That’s it for day six of the Wagatha Christie trial. Last day tomorrow
Rebekah Vardy left around an hour early again today with husband Jamie in tow
It comes after Jamie Vardy lost his Ragatha Christie earlier, claiming Wayne was “talking nonsense” about him on the stand
3
1
28
Mrs Justice Steyn, the judge presiding over the case, said Coleen Rooney's "It's........... Rebekah Vardy's account" post was "substantially true"
She said Rebekah Vardy "knew of, condoned and was actively engaged" in leaks to the media by her agent
1
2
28
Listen to
@mrjamesob
tell me he thought I was about to get sued because our reporting about Michelle Donelan was so improbable it felt like "the planets of awfulness aligning in real time"
From about 1.39 hrs into the show on
@LBC
3
4
27
