UK government refuses to return donation after alleged racist comments by donor

• Britain’s Conservative government has decided not to return a $12.8 million donation it received from tech entrepreneur Frank Hester.
• Hester is accused of making racist comments about Congresswoman Diane Abbott during a 2019 company meeting.
• Chancellor Rishi Sunak branded Mr Hester’s comments racist after some MPs spoke out against them.

Britain’s Conservative government announced on Wednesday that it has no plans to return $12.8 million it received over the past year from donors who made comments about black MPs who have been accused of being racist.

The government is under pressure from some MPs to return donations from tech entrepreneur Frank Hester. Frank Hester said at a company meeting in 2019 that Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, had “made me want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. and.

Hester, chief executive of healthcare software company Phoenix Partnership, was the Conservative party’s biggest donor in 2023. His company has been paid more than $510 million by the National Health Service and other government agencies since 2016, the Guardian reported. About Hester’s comment.

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Hester admitted that she had been “disrespectful to Diane Abbott” but denied being racist. In a statement on social media, he said racism is “a poison that has no place in public life.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak initially criticized Mr Hester’s comments, which were first reported on Monday, as “unacceptable”, but almost 24 hours passed before his spokesperson branded them racist. . The change came after cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch, who is black, broke ranks and accused Mr Hester of racism.

Mr Sunak told MPs on Wednesday: “The alleged statements are false and racist.” He added that Hester “has rightly apologized to them and their remorse should be accepted.”

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Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake told the broadcaster that the Conservative Party had no intention of returning the money Mr Hester gave to the party. He told Sky News that while the comments were “obviously” racist, Mr Hester was “not a racist and has apologized for his comments” and was right to continue donating. That’s what he said.

Asked by the BBC if the party intended to receive more money from Mr Hester, Mr Hollinrake said: “I understand the current situation, so yes.”

But Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of England’s West Midlands region, told BBC Radio that if it were up to him, “I would think about the company I kept and give the money back.”

Nuss Ghani, a senior Conservative Party lawmaker and deputy economy minister, said on social media that “zero tolerance for racism is nothing more than a slogan in today’s politics.”

Opposition politicians slammed Mr Sunak over Mr Hester’s comments during the Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament on Wednesday.

“Is the Prime Minister proud that he is being funded by someone who uses racist and misogynistic language?” asked Labor leader Keir Starmer.

Scottish National Party MP Stephen Flynn accused Mr Sunak of “putting money before morality”.

Mr Sunak defended receiving money from Mr Hester, saying: “At the end of the day, he is contributing to the most diverse cabinet in history, led by the first non-white prime minister.”

Britain’s political parties are looking to build up cash for election campaigns later this year. The Conservative Party received 9.8 million pounds ($12.5 million) from individual and corporate donors in the final three months of 2023, while the main opposition Labor Party received 6 million pounds ($7.7 million), according to Electoral Commission figures. received.

Mr Hester and his company donated £10m to the Conservative Party in 2023, according to the Electoral Commission. The party received a donation matching the bequest from supermarket magnate John Sainsbury, who died in 2022.

Mr Hester’s company loaned Mr Sunak a helicopter for the December trip for the equivalent of 15,900 pounds ($20,000), according to parliamentary records.

The dispute does not immediately threaten the Phoenix Partnership’s contract to supply medical records software to the state-run National Health Service. Mr Hester denied in an interview with the Daily Telegraph last month that his donations to the Conservative Party had anything to do with his company securing government contracts.

He said many of the agreements are with individual hospitals and clinics, and the government has no say in them.

He said family doctors “decide what software to use, not Rishi Sunak”.

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The Guardian published further alleged statements by Hester on Wednesday. He reportedly told a packed staff meeting that Indian staff could sit on the roof of a nearby train if there was not enough space.

Ms Abbott, 70, was elected to the House of Commons in 1987 to represent the East London area, becoming Britain’s first black female MP. She is operating as an independent after she was expelled from the Labor Party caucus last year for comments she made suggesting that Jews and Irish people do not experience racism in their “lifetime”.

She said Mr Hester’s comments were “horrifying”, especially given that two British MPs have been murdered since 2016. Last month, the government announced it would beef up security for politicians due to rising tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

London Police said it was investigating the matter after the Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team was contacted about the Guardian’s initial report.