Top donor hands £5m to Sunak over AI stance
Health tech boss says there ‘would be no point giving him any money’ if Tories were ahead in the polls
A HEALTHCARE technology entrepreneur has become the largest ever Conservative donor after giving another £5 million to the party.
Frank Hester, the founder and chief executive of the Phoenix Partnership, has now given £10million in the past year – and could yet give more before the general election.
In an interview with The Telegraph,
Mr Hester said it was Rishi Sunak’s interest in and engagement with artificial intelligence had convinced him to give money. The latest donation, set to be formally announced by the Electoral Commission next week, is a major boost to the Tories’ re-election war chest.
Mr Hester, in his first interview since starting to donate, described how he had spent much of his life voting for the Green Party or spoiling his ballot, before turning to the Tories. He acknowledged voters had become disillusioned with the party over the partygate scandal under Boris Johnson, saying he could understand their anger.
Mr Hester also rejected the idea he was giving money to secure more NHS contracts for his company, noting many of the contracts came from local hospitals and GPS, not central government.
Mr Hester, 57, made his money as a computer programmer, creating software to pool patient records in the NHS. His business has grown internationally and has begun incorporating AI.
Mr Hester said: “The future is AI and we’ve got a Prime Minister who gets it. I’ve had some quite long conversations with Rishi about AI and it’s not just that he understands it, we were talking about different algorithms. He does fundamentally get it and I think we’re blessed in this country.”
The Guardian reported in September that Mr Hester had profited from £135 million of contracts with the Department of Health and Social Care in less than four years.
Asked to respond to the idea he was donating to secure more NHS contracts, he said: “So GPS, most people don’t know this, but they’re actually not part of the NHS. They’re private organisations, they’re private companies.
“GPS decide which software they’re using, not Rishi Sunak. Then, of course, hospitals – again it’s not Rishi’s decision. “And I think it would be very well known if Rishi were to try and influence the decision, to say my local hospital in Leeds [needs this software].
“The only national contract we’ve got is we’ve done all the Covid research – the biggest research database in the world. It was used by all the other countries as well during Covid. We set that up and we’re doing it for free.”
A Conservative Party spokesman confirmed Mr Hester was now the “biggest ever donor” to the party.