Tories’ biggest donor said seeing Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’
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The largest ever Conservative donor came under fire on Monday after it emerged he told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women”.
Frank Hester also said Ms Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament, “should be shot” in remarks made during her time as Labour’s shadow home secretary.
Mr Hester, a healthcare technology entrepreneur and chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), has given £10 million to the Conservatives in the past year after he was convinced by Rishi Sunak’s interest in artificial intelligence.
In comments revealed by the Guardian newspaper, the 58-year-old told a meeting at TPP’s headquarters that an executive from another organisation was “the s----est person” before launching into a rant about Ms Abbott.
Mr Hester was reported to have said: “Honestly, I try not to be sexist, but when I meet somebody like [the executive] ... 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.
“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 would be much better if she died.”
In a separate meeting, Mr Hester was said to have told colleagues he made “a lot of jokes about racism” but considered it a “most abhorrent thing”, before referring to Chinese employees who “sit together in Asian corner”.
Ms Abbott made history as the first black woman to enter Parliament in 1987, going on to serve as a shadow frontbencher under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.
A study in 2017 found she received almost half (45 per cent) of all abusive tweets sent to female MPs in the run-up to that year’s general election.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington now sits as an independent MP after being stripped of the Labour whip last year for suggesting Jewish people did not suffer racism “all their lives”.
Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairman, described Mr Hester’s remarks as “reprehensible” and urged the Tories to immediately return his donations.
“Frank Hester is the Conservative Party’s biggest ever donor, as well as a personal donor to the Prime Minister,” Ms Dodds said.
“It is therefore vital that Rishi Sunak and the Tories return his donations, in full without delay. Rishi Sunak has claimed that ‘words matter’, and he must know that holding on to that money would suggest the Conservatives condone these disturbing comments.”
‘Utterly revolting’
Speaking in the Commons, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, condemned the “utterly revolting, racist and inciting language”.
Sources close to Mr Hester did not dispute the Guardian report but said the businessman felt very strongly that he was not racist. They added that on Monday he tried to reach out to Ms Abbott to apologise, while also noting that he has a partner who is Taiwanese.
Lawyers for TPP told the Guardian the comments were taken out of context, while a TPP spokesman said: “We always hire the best people for the job, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or any other characteristic.
“We take care of our people and celebrate diversity in our workplace. We reward our staff well, encouraging them to work collaboratively, to take ownership of their responsibilities, and to demonstrate the commitment and professionalism that the NHS, patients and our customers around the world deserve.”
A spokesman for Mr Hester said: “Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbot in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin.
“The Guardian is right when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s.
“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.”
A Conservative Party spokesman added: “Mr Hester has made clear that while he was rude, his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor the colour of her skin. He has since apologised.”
