Rishi Sunak has been urged to rethink his decision to withhold £10 million from Conservative Party donor Frank Hester after police said they were investigating “racist comments allegedly made” by the businessman in 2019.
An investigation by West Yorkshire Police was launched following a complaint by Diane Abbott after the Guardian reported that Hester told colleagues that looking at the MP “made you hate all black women” and said she “should be shot.” “.
Labor said Sunak should “do what he should have done two weeks ago: pay the money back”, while Conservative Party donor Dr Maurizio Bragagni said the party should not accept more money while the investigation is ongoing.
Abbott said she was pleased that police were investigating the comments made during a meeting at Hester’s Leeds office, adding: “Women in public life should not have to live in fear, so I hope this investigation is brought to a speedy conclusion.”
Hester became the Conservatives’ biggest ever donor when he gave the party £10 million last year, with a further £5 million reportedly under discussion.
Despite calls for it to be returned and reports that the Tories are still in talks for a further £5m, party sources say the party planned to keep all of Hester’s £15m.
One senior Tory told the Guardian that the party not only received Hester’s final donation of £5 million, but also spent it along with the rest of the original £10 million, making it impossible to give it back. Released from earlier reports said that the donation had not yet been received and the site was wondering whether to accept it.
“We had it a long time ago and it’s gone,” this person said. The Conservatives have spent heavily in recent weeks in the run-up to the local election campaign, in which the party is expected to suffer heavy losses. A spokesman for Hester declined to comment.
Anneliese Dodds, leader of the Labor Party, said: “Rishi Sunak should have paid the money back immediately. “The Prime Minister must now do what he should have done almost two weeks ago: return the money, cut ties with Frank Hester, apologize to Diane Abbott and finally get to work to root out the extreme views that seem to be tolerated in his party.”
Bragagni, who has donated £300,000 to the Conservatives, said: “We should not accept any more money until the investigation is completed and in any case an appropriate apology should be made.
“We were not aware of the comments at the time of donation, we certainly need to be more careful in the future… After all, it is Rishi who calls. He is the leader of the party.”
Another donor, Derek Calrow, who gave more than £670,000, told The Guardian the investigation was a “waste of police time”.
He said: “I don’t know Mr Hester but in my opinion he has apologized to Diane Abbott and to be honest I think it’s a waste of the police’s time. I think there are a lot of other things that the police could be doing without dealing with this case.
“The comments he made, I understand, were unacceptable, he has apologized for them and in my opinion the matter should be closed.”
He added: “I think it’s a completely non-event and Labor is trying to make sure the Conservatives have less money.”
Last week, The Guardian reported that during a meeting at her IT company in 2019, Hester stated that she did not hate all black women. But he said seeing Abbott, who is Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV means “you just want to hate all black women just because she’s there.”
Following last week’s report, Abbott lodged a complaint with the Metropolitan Police. West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation into the comments after they were reported to Hester’s office in Horsforth.
A police spokesman said officers were “working to establish the facts and make a final determination whether a crime has occurred.”
West Yorkshire Police said: “We are aware of the strong reaction to these allegations and are grateful to everyone who has contacted us since the article was published.
“As we continue to investigate, we would like to hear from anyone who could directly assist our investigation.”
The force appealed for any information that could assist the investigation, dubbed Operation Brassminster.
After the remarks were published, a statement from Hester’s company, The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), said he “admits that he was rude to Diane Abbott at a private meeting several years ago, but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender or skin color.” . skin.” The statement said Hester abhors racism, “partly because she experienced it as a child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s.”
The statement added: “He called Diane Abbott twice today in an attempt to apologize directly for the hurt he has caused her, and he is deeply sorry for his comments. “I want to make it clear that I consider racism to be a poison that has no place in public life.”
Since 2016, health technology company TPP has received more than £400 million from the NHS and other government bodies, mainly for looking after 60 million health records in the UK. Hester benefited from contracts worth £135 million with the Department of Health and Social Care in less than four years.
Hester donated £5m to the Conservatives in May 2023 and announced a further £5m donation this month, which the party accepted from his company in November last year.
0 Comments