Rishi Sunak instructed to return race row Tory’s money as photograph reveals helicopter journey
Rishi Sunak is below strain to return money from a millionaire Tory donor embroiled in a racism row – who forked out for him to take a VIP helicopter journey to Yorkshire.
Businessman Frank Hester turned the Conservatives’ largest ever donor after gifting the social gathering £5million individually and one other £5million through his agency final yr, in accordance with the Electoral Commission. And photos have emerged of the PM utilizing a helicopter paid for.
In November, Mr Hester’s agency TPP lined the £15,900 price of Mr Sunak taking a non-public helicopter to a Tory marketing campaign go to in Leeds. Photographs present the PM getting within the luxurious plane in Battersea in London to be whisked as much as Yorkshire.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds wrote to the PM yesterday to boost the helicopter trip. She wrote: “Accepting and using that money can only be treated as implicitly condoning and overlooking his deeply disturbing comments and the way he has run his business. “Anything lower than returning the cash can be a stain on the Conservative Party.”
It comes after Mr Sunak lastly admitted that Mr Hester’s alleged remarks about former Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott have been racist. In a gathering in 2019, Mr Hester reportedly stated seeing Ms Abbott on TV made him “need to hate all Black ladies” and that she should be “shot”, according to the Guardian. He denied his comments had anything to do with her race or her gender.
More than 24 hours after the comments came to light, the Prime Minister bowed to pressure to condemn Mr Hester. The PM’s spokesman said: “The feedback allegedly made by Frank Hester have been racist and flawed. He has now rightly apologised for the offence brought on and the place regret is proven it must be accepted. The Prime Minister is evident there isn’t a place for racism in public life.”
But he did not say if the Tories would hand back £10million in donations made by Mr Hester last year. Today, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said that returning the cash is not the “proper factor to do” and suggested the Tories would accept further donations from the businessman.
Ms Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving Black MP, reported Mr Hester to the police yesterday over the comments, which were revealed on Monday. She said his remarks were “horrifying” and “alarming”, adding: “I’m a single girl and that makes me weak anyway. But to listen to somebody speaking like that is worrying.”
But Tory peer Lord Marland, who described himself as a friend of Mr Hester, said the magnate could not be racist as he did business in countries such as Malaysia and Jamaica.
In a statement on Monday, a TPP spokesperson said: “Frank Hester accepts that he was impolite about Diane Abbott in a non-public assembly a number of years in the past however his criticism had nothing to do along with her gender nor color of pores and skin. The Guardian is true when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least as a result of he skilled it because the baby of Irish immigrants within the 1970’s.
“He rang Diane Abbott twice today to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her, and is deeply sorry for his remarks. He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
Leeds-based TPP has acquired greater than £400m in NHS and different Government contracts since 2016.
Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, has sat as an impartial since April after Labour withdrew the whip following feedback over the Jewish, Irish and Traveller communities. She is awaiting the result of an investigation.
