Calls for Tories to return money from top donor after ‘revolting’ Diane Abbott remarks
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to return money from the Conservatives’ biggest donor after a report claimed he said looking at Diane Abbott makes you want to “hate all Black women” and that the MP “should be shot”.
The Guardian reported that Frank Hester, who is the Tories’ top funder having handed the party £10m in the last year, told a meeting of colleagues in 2019: “You see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like, I hate you, just want to hate all black women because she’s there, and I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot.”
The businessman also allegedly called his “foreign” workers together to defend himself against claims of racism, while adding: “We take the piss out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner.”
Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called on the Tories to return the money Mr Hester donated to the party.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said: “These comments are reprehensible.
“Frank Hester is the Conservative Party’s biggest ever donor, as well as a personal donor to the Prime Minster, it is therefore vital that Rishi Sunak and the Tories return his donations, in full without delay.
“Rishi Sunak has claimed that ‘words matter’, and he must know that holding on to that money would suggest the Conservatives condone these disturbing comments. Sunak must return every penny.”
A statement issued via Mr Hester’s healthcare technology firm, the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), said he was “deeply sorry” for the “rude” comments – but denied that they were racist.
The statement said: “Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbot in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin.
“The Guardian is right when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s.
“He rang Diane Abbott twice today to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her, and is deeply sorry for his remarks.
“He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, went further with his criticisms during remarks in the Commons, saying Mr Hester had used “utterly revolting, racist and inciteful language”.
Addressing MPs, Mr Streeting called on the Prime Minister to also apologise to Ms Abbott.
The chair of the Women’s parliamentary Labour party, Dame Siobhain McDonagh, said the Tories needed to return the funds to “show that the Conservative party wishes to disassociate itself” from Mr Hester’s comments.
The Liberal Democrats also called for Mr Hester’s donations to be returned, and for the Prime Minister to rule out any future peerage for the businessman.
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “These comments are inexcusable and disgusting. Ultimately the buck stops with Rishi Sunak.
“He must reassure the public that the Conservative Party does not tolerate these remarks. That means confirming that his party will return every penny of these donations and won’t take any more from this donor in future.
“He must also rule out any future peerage for Frank Hester.”
A Conservative spokeswoman said: “Mr Hester has made clear that while he was rude, his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor the colour of her skin.
“He has since apologised.”
James Daly, deputy chairman of the Tory Party, told Times Radio the remarks were “not words I would have used” and that he was “pleased” Mr Hester had apologised.
Downing Street directed questions about Mr Hester’s comments to the Conservative Party.
Ms Abbott, first elected as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1987, has sat as an independent since April after the Labour whip was withdrawn following comments she made in The Observer suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”.
She is awaiting the outcome of an independent complaints process set up by Labour to investigate her remarks.
The Guardian reported that TPP has been paid more than £400m by the NHS and other government bodies since 2016, having been given responsibility to look after 60 million UK medical records.
According to the TPP website, Mr Hester founded the company in 1997 as he worked on integrated care models.
TPP describes the firm as providing “leading software that is transforming healthcare worldwide”.
In 2015, the businessman was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to healthcare.
Mr Hester has been invited on several government trade missions in the past, including visiting India with then-prime minister David Cameron in 2013.
He appeared at number 321 on the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List, with the newspaper estimating his wealth at £415m.
The Rich List said Mr Hester spotted an opportunity to build IT software for the NHS “when his GP wife grumbled about her computers at work”.
