The Tories’ biggest donor is embroiled in a racism row over alleged comments made about Diane Abbott.
Frank Hester is accused of saying that seeing the former Labour frontbencher on TV made you “want to hate all back women” and that she “should be shot”.
Mr Hester, who has given £10million to the Conservatives in the last year, is said to have made the remarks during a meeting of his medical software company The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) in 2019.
The Guardian reported that he was complaining about an executive from another organisation.
According to the newspaper, he said: “She’s s***. She’s the s******* 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?”
TPP’s lawyers, Carter-Ruck, told the newspaper the comments had been distorted and taken out of context.
Mr Hester is also said to have called all “foreign” staff to a meeting to defend himself against online claims that he had made racist remarks.
He reportedly said: “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.”
Ms Abbott, 70, was the first black woman elected to the Commons and remains the longest-serving black MP.
The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, who was Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow home secretary, currently sits as an independent in the Commons after losing the Labour whip in an antisemitism row.
Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said the alleged remarks by Mr Hester were “reprehensible”.
She said: “This is the Conservatives’ biggest ever donor. They must return every penny, in full without delay.
“Rishi Sunak has claimed that ‘words matter’. Keeping that money would suggest the Conservatives condone these disturbing comments.”
A TPP spokesperson 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.”
