A Tory donor’s comments about Diane Abbott were “racist and wrong”, Downing Street has declared.
Frank Hester, who has donated £10m to the Conservatives, said the MP made him want to “hate all black women”.
Mr Hester apologised for making “rude” comments but said his remarks “had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The comments allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong. He has now rightly apologised for the offence caused and where remorse is shown it should be accepted.
“The Prime Minister is clear there is no place for racism in public life and as the first British-Asian Prime Minister leading one of the most ethnically diverse Cabinets in our history, the UK is living proof of that fact.”
Opponents criticised the Tories’ reluctance to describe Mr Hester’s reported remarks as racist and urged the governing party to hand back the money he and his company have donated.
But Cabinet Minister Kemi Badenoch then broke ranks with No 10 to describe the comments as “racist”, but she welcomed his apology and called for “space for forgiveness”.
She said: “Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist.
“I welcome his apology. Abbott and I disagree on a lot. But the idea of linking criticism of her, to being a black woman is appalling.
“It’s never acceptable to conflate someone’s views with the colour of their skin.”
Health minister Maria Caulfield told the BBC she considered the comments to be racist and that she would not accept a donation from Mr Hester “if he made those comments”.
Britain’s longest-serving black MP – made him “want to hate all black women” and that she needed “to be shot”.
Ms Abbott, who is currently suspended from sitting as a Labour MP, said the comments were “frightening”.
She said: “I live in Hackney and do not drive, so I find myself, at weekends, popping on a bus or even walking places more than most MPs. I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway.
“But to hear someone talking like this is worrying… The fact that two MPs have been murdered in recent years makes talk like this all the more alarming.
“I am currently not a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party but remain a member of the Labour Party itself, so I am hoping for public support from Keir Starmer.”
