West Yorkshire police investigating Tory donor Frank Hester’s alleged racist comments about Diane Abbott
Tory donor Frank Hester gave the Conservative party ?10m in donations in 2023
Police are investigating alleged racist comments made by Tory party donor Frank Hester at a meeting in 2019.
The investigation by West Yorkshire police follows a police report made by former Labour MP Diane Abbott about the alleged remarks, as first reported by The Independent.
The force said the investigation had been passed over from the Metropolitan Police as the meeting took place in Horsforth, Leeds.
A spokesperson said officers were now “working to establish the facts and to ultimately ascertain whether a crime has been committed”.
They added that the Metropolitan Police had been contacted on March 11 about a report in The Guardian, and that this was the first time the comments had been brought to the attention of police.
Ms Abbott filed a complaint with the Metropolitan Police’s parliamentary liaison and investigations team after Mr Hester, who donated ?10m to the Tories last year, allegedly made a series of incendiary comments about her, including that she made him “want to hate all Black women”.
Mr Hester’s firm released a statement after the comments were first published, saying that he was “deeply sorry” and had rung Ms Abbott twice “to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her”.
“Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin,” the statement said.
Mr Hester “abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”, the statement said, adding: “He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.” In response to a request by the BBC, a spokesperson for Mr Hester said the statement is not a confirmation of the alleged quotes in The Guardian.
Mr Hester later issued a statement which appeared to suggest his comments were made “playfully without seeking to cause offence”.
Ms Abbott described the reported comments as “worrying”.
“It is frightening. I live in Hackney, I don’t drive, so I find myself, at weekends, popping on a bus or even walking places, more than most MPs,” she said.
“I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway. But to hear someone talking like this is worrying.”
She added: “For all of my career as an MP I have thought it important not to live in a bubble but to mix and mingle with ordinary people. The fact that two MPs have been murdered in recent years makes talk like this all the more alarming.”
The row has caused outrage within and outside of the Conservative party, but Rishi Sunak has refused to return the donation from Mr Hester.
The businessman - who was the single biggest donor to the Conservative party last year - is reported to have donated an additional ?5m to the Conservative party since the start of this year.
Leading government figures have asserted that retaining the money was justifiable since Mr Hester is “not a racist” and has issued an apology.
Communities secretary Michael Gove told Sky News that he believed the business tycoon’s apology was “sincere”, adding: “I haven’t spoken to Mr Hester, but I think that when someone says that they are sorry, and I understand he’s deeply sorry for these remarks, then my natural inclination is to exercise Christian forgiveness.”
Meanwhile, business secretry Kemi Badenoch dismissed the row over the alleged comments as “trivia” and insisted the Conservative party should not return the businessman’s ?10m donation.