1. Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan was born on 8 April 1984 and is a British politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from July 2023 to July 2024, having previously served in the position from February to April 2023 before being temporarily replaced during her maternity leave.
Michelle Donelan served as the Member of Parliament for Chippenham in Wiltshire from 2015 to 2024.
Michelle Donelan contested the new Melksham and Devizes constituency in July 2024 and was defeated.
Michelle Donelan was born in April 1984, the daughter of Michael Donelan and his wife Kathleen Johnson, and grew up in Whitley, Cheshire.
At the age of 15, Michelle Donelan spoke at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, having decided at the age of six to become a politician.
Michelle Donelan was educated at The County High School, Leftwich, a state school, before graduating from the University of York with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and politics.
Michelle Donelan was then selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Chippenham in February 2013.
Michelle Donelan served on the Education Select Committee between 2015 and 2018.
Michelle Donelan was appointed an assistant whip in 2018 and a government whip in July 2019.
On 7 July 2022, after less than 36 hours in the role, Michelle Donelan resigned as Secretary of State, writing that Johnson had "put us in an impossible position".
Michelle Donelan was the shortest-serving cabinet member in British history, her tenure being shorter than Earl Temple's four-day tenure as Foreign Secretary in 1783.
Michelle Donelan initially backed Nadhim Zahawi in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, later backing Penny Mordaunt, after holding a constituency survey, she later switched her endorsement to Liz Truss after Penny Mordaunt and Nadhim Zahawi, who didn't receive enough support from Conservative MPs to move forward, were eliminated from the election.
Michelle Donelan was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 7 September 2022 by then prime minister Liz Truss.
Rishi Sunak succeeded Truss following the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, and Michelle Donelan retained her position in the cabinet.
Michelle Donelan returned to her ministerial role on Thursday 20 July 2023 after three months of ministerial maternity leave.
In October 2023, in her role as science minister, Michelle Donelan wrote to the head of UKRI suggesting that two academics recently appointed to a UKRI advisory group had expressed sympathy for Hamas and shared extremist views.
In March 2024, Michelle Donelan publicly retracted the allegations and deleted the October tweet.
One of the academics, Kate Sang of Heriot-Watt University, had commenced a libel action against Michelle Donelan, who was represented by the government legal service.
In May 2023, Michelle Donelan announced she would be contesting at the next general election the Melksham and Devizes constituency, where she lived, as the boundaries of her Chippenham seat had been redrawn.
In December 2022, Michelle Donelan announced that she was expecting a baby and went on maternity leave at the end of April 2023.
Michelle Donelan was appointed a member of the Privy Council on 20 September 2021, invested via video link at Balmoral Castle.