When the far right is rising in Europe, there is a very real concern that Britain’s ruling class is not being alert enough to its dangers. Since Brexit, the Conservative party has been transfixed by the threat of Faragist nationalism, marginalising its thoughtful voices and turning to “deep state” conspiracies. The Tories feel menaced by the Reform party, which draws about half its support from voters who backed the Conservatives at the last election.
The Conservative party reasons that if it cannot beat the radical right it must join them. This is bad for Britain. Ministers trade in performative cruelty to refugees, and vulnerable and poor people. With a political and media ecosystem that has permitted society’s divisions to be openly stoked, arsenic is being poured into the water supply of our national conversation.
Despite this worrying backdrop, Downing Street’s reaction to remarks made by a Conservative donor, Frank Hester, that the then Labour MP Diane Abbott “should be shot” and made him “want to hate all black women” was still shocking. Initially, Rishi Sunak said the comments were unacceptable but refused to say why. Similarly, when Lee Anderson attacked in Islamophobic terms London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, Mr Sunak said the former Tory vice-chair was wrong, but would not give reasons. Mr Anderson this week left the Conservatives to become Reform’s first MP. Belatedly, Mr Sunak has described Mr Hester’s comments as “racist”, but says he should be forgiven.
Mr Hester, who has given the Tory party £10m, has admitted to being rude in a private meeting five years ago but said that his comments had nothing to do with Ms Abbott’s gender or skin colour. Senior Conservatives, including the prime minister, disagree. The forthcoming general election is likely to be the most expensive ever: political parties last year accepted £93m in donations, a figure boosted by big spenders. But principles surely matter in politics more than money. Alistair Burt, an ex-Tory minister, rightly called on his party to “return the donations, end the relationship and ask decent donors to make up the difference”.
Ms Abbott, the first black woman to become an MP, has faced years of abuse and admitted to being “frightened” after hearing of Mr Hester’s 2019 remarks. Mr Sunak very recently raised concerns about MPs’ safety, blaming intimidation by pro-Palestinian protesters. Mr Sunak would do better to weigh all words – whether uttered by political friend or political foe – with the gravity required of his position. It was good to hear Sir Keir Starmer defend Ms Abbott, who lost the Labour whip 11 months ago for writing an ill-judged letter to the Observer. It’s high time she was allowed to sit again on the Labour benches, in a pluralistic Labour party.
Mr Hester is a multimillionaire from NHS contracts that see his company supply half of England’s GPs with the computer systems to manage patient records. It will be interesting to see what the government’s attitude will be to any amendments put forward by peers to the data protection and digital information bill in the House of Lords that seek to impose new standards on IT providers to NHS England.
In Canada three decades ago the Reform party’s namesake wiped out the conservatives, reducing them to only two seats and replacing them as the main rightwing party until a merger years later. To avoid that fate, the Tories might reflect on how voters view a Conservative party that appears at war with itself and the rest of the world. Casting a ballot can’t just be a competition between the lesser of evils. It should be about something much better than that.
