The donation came days before the 2024 general election

The Conservative Party received a £5 million donation from Frank Hester days before the 2024 general election, according to the latest figures from the Electoral Commission. That was in addition to donations from Hester totalling £10m between September 2023 and February 2024.

And, yes, that’s the same Frank Hester who earlier this year was revealed to have said that the Labour MP Diane Abbott ‘should be shot’ and that seeing her on television made you ‘want to hate all black women’.

Following the revelations, the then prime minister Rishi Sunak said Hester’s comments were ‘wrong’ and ‘racist’. That, however, doesn’t seem to have been sufficient grounds to reject a further donation from Hester’s company Phoenix Partnership.

The initial allegations against Hester were made following an investigation conducted by the Guardian. The paper reported that Hester said of an executive of another organisation: “She’s shit. She’s the shittest person. Honestly I try not to be sexist but when I meet somebody like [the executive], I just…

“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. You know?”

At the time, the lawyers of Hester’s company said: “Hester’s comments had been distorted and taken out of context, and were not a true or accurate characterisation of the company or Hester.”

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

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