Rishi Sunak takes even more cash from Tory donor in Diane Abbott racism storm

14 March 2024 , 13:42

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The Conservative Party has accepted even more cash from Frank Hester than originally thought (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak has already accepted even more in cash from the Tory donor alleged to have made racist comments about Diane Abbott.

Frank Hester was already the party’s biggest donor after the party declared £10million in donations from him.

But the Electoral Commission has only reported donations accepted up to the end of 2023. But Mr Hester has donated more cash to the Tories since January - reportedly around £5million, a figure the Tories did not deny.

The £15million total equates to 40% of the new £35million spending limit for a general election - and is almost as much as the party spent on the entire 2019 election campaign.

Mr Sunak eventually declared Mr Hester’s comments “racist and wrong”, after 24 hours of dithering. But he would not rule out taking even more cash from Mr Hester, and refused to commit to paying it back.

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Today, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "Declarable donations will be published in the usual way by the Electoral Commission.”

The Prime Minister has been under mounting pressure to pay back the £10million in donations the party has accepted from the millionaire healthcare tech tycoon.

In a meeting in 2019, Mr Hester said seeing Ms Abbott on TV made him "want to hate all Black women" and that she should be "shot", according to the Guardian. He apologised for being rude but denied his comments had anything to do with her race or her gender.

At PMQs, Mr Sunak said: “The gentleman apologised genuinely for his comments and that remorse should be accepted."

The Scottish Conservatives yesterday urged the UK party to “carefully review” Mr Hester’s donations. A spokesperson said: “These comments were racist and wrong. The Scottish Conservative Party has never accepted a donation from Frank Hester and the UK Conservative Party should carefully review the donations it has received from Hester in response to his remarks.”

Labour ’s Chair Anneliese Dodds said:“Frank Hester’s remarks were clearly racist, misogynistic and have no place in our politics.

“There is absolutely no excuse for the Conservatives accepting additional money from Frank Hester. They should pay this back before it hits the coffers.

“Rishi Sunak needs to pay back every penny, cut ties with Frank Hester and apologise unequivocally to Diane Abbott.”

Lib Dem Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: "The Conservative Party must urgently confirm whether these reports are true and if so hand this tainted money back.

"The Conservative Party has dragged its feet in condemning these racist remarks for what they are. If that was in any way linked to this £5 million donation it would show this scandal is even worse than we thought.

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"People like Hester and his attitudes need to be nowhere near our politics. Conservative politicians need to learn that just because someone gives you millions of pounds that does not make the inexcusable, excusable."

Mikey Smith