Frank Hester: Rishi Sunak say he won’t return money from donor accused of racism

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has resisted opposition calls to return money to a Conservative donor who reportedly said MP Diane Abbott “should be shot”.

Frank Hester was accused of making “racist” and “wrong” remarks, according to the PM.

But, he insisted on telling MPs that his “remorse should be accepted” because Mr. Hester had apologized.

Mr. Hester has given the Conservatives over £10 million in donations, and in November, he gave Mr. Sunak a £15,000 helicopter ride for a political visit.

Labour MP Marsha de Cordova directly questioned Mr. Sunak about returning the donated chopper during Prime Minister’s Questions.

In response, he said, “No. And I’m happy that the gentleman is endorsing a party that is led by this nation’s first British Asian prime minister and represents one of the most diverse administrations in its history.”

Ms. Abbott, an independent Member of Parliament who was suspended by Labour, was present in the Commons chamber, but she was unable to get Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to call her to pose a question of her own.

Sir Lindsay’s spokesman claimed that “there was not enough time to call all members who wanted to ask a question” and that he had to give priority to the MPs named on the order paper.

The leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, who has up to now opposed attempts to have Ms. Abbott returned to the Labour benches, stated that the PM needs to find the “courage to hand back the £10m”.

 

“Is the prime minister proud to be bankrolled by someone using racist and misogynistic language when he says the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) ‘makes you want to hate all black women?’,” queried Sir Keir.

“The claimed remarks were incorrect, they were racist, and he has rightly apologized for them; that remorse should be accepted,” Mr. Sunak retorted.

“There is no place for racism in Britain, and the government I lead is living proof of that.”

Moreover, Sir Keir said that Mr. Sunak was now “tongue-tied, shrinking in sophistry, hoping he can deflect for long enough that it will all go away” after attempting to “pose as some kind of unifier” with his statement on extremism outside Downing Street.

Mr. Sunak stated that he was “absolutely not going to take any lectures” from Sir Keir, who he claimed “chose to serve a leader who let antisemitism run rife in his Labour Party, those are his actions, those are his values and that’s how he should be judged” .

“The problem is that he’s describing a Labour Party that no longer exists,” Sir Keir retorted.

Leader of the SNP in Westminster Stephen Flynn also demanded that the PM return the funds, accusing him of “putting money before morals”.

The businessman was labeled a “racist” and “downright bloody dangerous” by him, and he called Mr. Sunak’s defense of Mr. Hester “complete rubbish”.

“Isn’t the extremism that we should all be worried about [are] the views of those Tory donors that we’ve read about this week?” He questioned the PM.

Following the session, Mr. Flynn and Sir Keir were observed conversing with Ms. Abbott. It is believed that Ms. Abbott requested that Sir Keir readmit her to the Parliamentary Labour Party when he inquired about any possible assistance.

Since April 2023, Ms. Abbott has served as an independent member of parliament. She was suspended from the parliamentary party for a letter she wrote to the Observer claiming that racism did not affect Irish, Jewish, or Traveler people “all their lives.” She apologized “for any anguish caused” and removed her statement.

The first black Member of Parliament from Birmingham, Paulette Hamilton of Labour, expressed her concern to BBC News Midlands that the remarks made about Ms. Abbott had increased “the threat and anxiety levels of MPs in Parliament”.

She claimed that female MPs, particularly specifically black women, were very familiar with and frequented their constituencies.

An report in the Guardian on Monday ignited the controversy around the return of Mr. Hester’s money.

The newspaper reported that in 2019, Mr. Hester stated: “It’s like trying not to be racist but 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 BBC has not been able to independently confirm the claimed remarks or hear a recording of the remarks. We’ve asked Mr. Hester if the remarks that have been reported are true.

His business, Mr. Hester’s, said in a statement on Monday that he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

“The UK Conservative Party should carefully review the donations it has received from Hester in response to his remarks,” the Scottish Conservative Party stated, adding that it had never accepted a donation from Mr. Hester.

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said she was writing to each Conservative member of parliament pleading with them not to take “tainted” money from Mr. Hester.