Hester’s £10m was a fifth of all donations made to Tory Party last year
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.
Mr Sunak resisted pressure from within his own party yesterday to give back the money after it emerged that Mr Hester had told colleagues Ms Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
Downing Street had initially declined to describe the comments as racist, but later said they were “racist and wrong”. Mr Hester has admitted making “rude” comments about Ms Abbott, but claimed they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
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.
Yesterday the Scottish Conservatives 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.
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 said: “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 spokesman for the Tories did not respond to a request for comment.
The Electoral Commission figures suggest 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 within months.
The party has refused to say whether the tycoon has given additional cash that will be registered in its next set of reported accounts. Labour is building up its own election war chest with a number of multimillion-pound donations, although its overall fundraising still appears to lag behind the Conservatives’.
The Prime Minister, who also previously accepted a helicopter ride worth £15,000 from Mr Hester, said the donor’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?”