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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jitendra Joshi

Rishi Sunak engulfed in new row over £5m donation from tycoon who made 'racist remark' about Diane Abbott

Rishi Sunak was accused by Labour of having “no integrity” after it emerged on Thursday that tycoon Frank Hester, who made inflammatory remarks about Diane Abbott, has given another £5 million to the Conservatives.

Tweeting about the latest donation made by the healthcare entrepreneur, Ms Abbott, who is standing again to be Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said: “An insult to me and all black women.”

Mr Hester reportedly told colleagues, in 2019, that Britain’s first black woman MP made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. The PM accepted that the remarks were “racist” and “wrong” when they emerged in March.

But the Conservative leader refused to hand back £10 million given by Mr Hester last year.

Now it has been registered by the Electoral Commission that the Tories banked a further £5 million from his Phoenix Partnership in January and £150,000 in March - which the party confirmed it was keeping ahead of the General Election on July 4.

“Rishi Sunak has proven he is a man with no integrity,” Labour Chair Anneliese Dodds said, as the party continued to allege that Mr Sunak was a “liar” for his claims about Labour’s tax policy in Tuesday night’s first TV debate with Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms Dodds added: “He is too weak to return the money donated by a man who has made violent, misogynist, and racist remarks which belong nowhere near our politics.

“If Rishi Sunak had a backbone he’d have cut ties with Frank Hester months ago, returned the money and apologised properly to Diane Abbott.”

Ms Abbott has only recently regained the Labour whip, and the right to stand against as a Labour candidate on July 4, after a long investigation into alleged antisemitism.

For the Tories, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told GMB: “Any racist comment is utterly, utterly unacceptable.”

But he insisted that Mr Hester had “shown remorse” and that he himself was proud to serve under the UK’s most diverse Cabinet led by the first British-Asian Prime Minister.

Mr Stride also highlighted Labour Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething’s refusal to resign despite losing a vote of no confidence on Wednesday after he accepted a donation from a man convicted of environmental offences.

And the minister insisted that Mr Sunak was above board in claiming that a Labour Government would raise British households’ taxes by £2,000, after the figure was bitterly contested and the “independent” nature of the analysis was questioned by the Treasury’s top mandarin.

“What Labour now need to do is to stop saying all these ridiculous things about the prime minister and his motivations and so on, and start actually answering questions about whether those numbers are correct or not,” Mr Stride told Times Radio.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Mr Hester has rightly apologised for comments made in the past.  As Mr Hester has apologised and shown contrition and we consider the matter resolved.

“The Conservative Party is funded by membership, fundraising and donations. All reportable donations are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law.”

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “How low can Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives go? If the Conservatives spend this money they will be proudly funded by a man who made the most appalling racist and sexist comments.

 "Ultimately the buck stops with Rishi Sunak. Sunak must personally intervene and make sure not a penny of this money is spent,” she said.

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