A top Conservative donor who made racist comments about Diane Abbott handed over a fifth of all money given to the party last year, i can reveal – highlighting the difficulty Rishi Sunak faces amid growing Tory calls to repay the cash. Frank Hester’s £10,172,200 in donations to the Tories last year made up more than 21 per cent of the total £48,086,402.22 received by the party, according to analysis of Electoral Commission figures which record all significant donations. Mr Sunak resisted pressure in his own party on Wednesday to give back the money after Mr Hester said Ms Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. According to the Guardian , Mr Hester also asked staff at his company if there was “no room for the Indians” and suggested workers climb on the roof of a train, alongside a string of other controversial comments. The Scottish Conservatives on Wednesday said the party should “carefully review the donations”, while former Tory chair Chris Patten suggested it was unreasonable to take £10m from someone who made racist comments , and West Midlands mayor Andy Street said he would give the money back, adding: “I would think about the company I kept.” Responding to the revelation of the extent of the Conservatives’ reliance on Mr Hester,
Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds told i : “Frank Hester’s repugnant remarks were clearly racist, misogynistic and have no place in our politics. “This individual is the biggest donor to the Conservative party and a personal donor to Rishi Sunak. Refusing to hand this money back means every Tory leaflet will have been funded, in part, by someone who holds these repulsive views. Rishi Sunak needs to pay back every penny, cut ties with Frank Hester, and apologise unequivocally to Diane Abbott.” A spokesperson for the Conservatives did not respond to a request for comment. The data suggests that if the Tories did return Mr Hester’s money, or give it to charity, they could face a significant shortfall in their finances with a general
election likely to kick off within months. The party has refused to say whether the tycoon has given additional cash which will be registered in its next set of reported accounts. Labour is building up its own election war chest with a number of multi-million-pound donations, although its overall fundraising still appears to lag behind the Conservatives’. The Prime Minister said Mr Hester’s “remorse should be accepted” as he resisted calls to hand back the money after being pressed by Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions. The Labour leader had asked: “How low would he have to sink, what racist, woman-hating threat of violence would he have to make before the Prime Minister plucked up the courage to hand back the £10m that he’s taken from him?” Mr Sunak reiterated that “the gentleman apologised genuinely for his comments and that remorse should be accepted”. Ms Abbott herself sought to ask the Prime Minister a question during the Commons session but was not called on by the Speaker, sparking anger from other MPs. She was approached by Sir Keir afterwards, who offered her support – but he appeared to refuse her request to be allowed to retake the Labour whip in Parliament, more than six months after she was suspended for writing a letter question the seriousness of anti-Jewish racism. No 10 refused to say whether the party would accept more donations from Mr Hester. The Prime Minister’s press secretary said she would not “get into speculation about future events” when asked whether more money might be taken from Mr Hester, or whether Mr Sunak would accept more funding for helicopter rides after the donor paid nearly £16,000 for a trip by the Tory leader in December. Lee Anderson, the former Conservative MP who defected to Reform
UK this week, also suggested his old party should return the money donated – pointing to his own suspension over allegations of
racism against
London Mayor
Sadiq Khan. He told GB News: “This chap who has made these alleged racist comments… he’s got a few quid which he’s donated to the party and I think a lot of people out there will be asking now for consistency. If you’re going to have one bloke say some nasty things, which were quite nasty, then surely you should use the same sort of discipline, if you like. I lost the whip, he’s apologised and just moved on.” Mr Hester has apologised for being rude about Ms Abbott during the private meeting in 2019 but has not acknowledged making racist remarks.