Oh dear. The Tory party’s biggest donor Frank Hester is under fire for remarks he made about Diane Abbott in a 2019 meeting. The West Yorkshire businessman is facing intense criticism for unprofessionalism at work after it emerged he had told colleagues that looking at Abbott makes ‘you just want to hate all black women because she’s there’ and that ‘she should be shot’.
Hester has since apologised for his ‘rude’ remarks and a statement from his business says that the donor has attempted to contact Abbott directly to say sorry. A number of Tory MPs backed Hester’s apology on Tuesday morning while admitting that his remarks were ‘wrong’. Lord William Hague called the remarks ‘racist’ on Times Radio, but said: ‘He’s deeply sorry. So I think we should accept the apology.’ Energy minister Graham Stuart admitted he was ‘uncomfortable talking about it’ but said he would ‘hesitate to stick’ a racist ‘label’ on the comments, adding: ‘But that was half a decade ago. He has apologised.’ And work and pensions secretary Mel Stride told the media that: ‘I don’t think what he was saying was a gender-based or a race-based comment, but it was clearly inappropriate. He has apologised and I think we need to move on.’
The contents of a work meeting at Hester’s healthcare technology firm, the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), were unearthed on Monday evening by a Guardian investigation spanning several months. Hester, who in the last year has donated £10 million to the Tories and is helping fund their election campaign, told colleagues:
It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she’s there, and I don’t hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.
[The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot. She’s stupid … If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It’s not as good as her dying. It would be much better if she died. She’s consuming resource. She’s eating food that other people could eat.’
The businessman, who was awarded an OBE when David Cameron was Prime Minister, also hosted a separate meeting with his ‘foreign’ staff, where he defended himself against allegations of racism. He told his workers that their progress would not be based on ‘the colour of your skin, your ethnicity, where your parents are from’. He added that: ‘I make a lot of jokes about racism, about our different creeds and cultures. But I just want to assure you that it is just the most abhorrent thing.’ He is, however, also reported to have said that ‘we take the piss out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner’.
A Conservative spokesperson said that the Tory donor had been clear that his criticism of Abbott was not linked to race or gender and ‘has since apologised’. TPP’s lawyers say that Hester’s comments have been taken out of context and the legal team also insists that his business has an inclusive and diverse workplace. A company spokesperson, meanwhile, commented that ‘we always hire the best people for the job, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or any other characteristic’, adding: ‘We take care of our people and celebrate diversity in our workplace.’
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