UK Politics

Minister says he would accept £10mn from under fire Tory donor Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has rejected a call to return £10m donated to the Conservative Party by a businessman who made a racist comment about Diane Abbott.Labour leader Keir Starmer asked the prime minister if he would give the money back after Frank Hester said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and that she should be “shot”. “No… I am pleased [Mr Hester] is supporting a party that represents one of the most diverse governments in this country’s history,” he told the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions.The PM described Mr Hester’s comments as unacceptable and “racist” but accepted the multi-millionaire’s apology.Earlier, minister Kemi Badenoch broke ranks with other senior colleagues to condemn Mr Hester’s comments as “racist” but it took the prime minister a day to describe the comments as “racist and wrong”.Show latest update 1710340842Scottish Tories have called on party to ‘review’ donationsThe Scottish Conservatives have broken ranks with Rishi Sunak and the UK Conservative party and demanded a review into Frank Hester’s £10m donation, Zoe Grunewald reports.In a statement released to the media, the Scottish Tories said Mr Hester’s comments were “racist and wrong”.They added: “The Scottish Conservative Party has never accepted a donation from Frank Hester and the UK Conservative Party should carefully review the donations it has received from Hester in response to his remarks.”Matt Mathers13 March 2024 14:401710339780Watch live: Jeremy Hunt grilled on spring Budget by MPsMatt Mathers13 March 2024 14:231710338425Watch: Sunak claims Starmer ‘let antisemitism run rife’ in heated Tory donor racism row More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch live as Jeremy Hunt is questioned on the spring Budget on Wednesday, 13 March, after the Conservatives’ fiscal announcement last week.The chancellor’s appearance before the Treasury Committee comes after his economic proposals cleared their first Commons hurdle amid warnings that they lack a “bombshell” announcement to turn around the Tories’ election prospects.Mr Hunt used last week’s Budget to announce pre-election giveaways, including a 2p cut in national insurance for employees and the self-employed from April and a cut to the top rate of capital gains tax on property sales.MPs approved a series of Budget resolutions, which relate to specific proposals for taxation, on Tuesday evening.A Finance Bill will be considered at a later date to give them permanent legal effect.Conservative MP Richard Drax said on the final day of the Budget debate: “When I heard the Chancellor speak about the importance of lower taxes and allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned money I was expecting a bombshell of an announcement during his speech.”For example, abolishing inheritance tax, lowering income tax – which I would’ve personally chosen myself, not national insurance – lowering corporation tax to encourage growth, simplifying the tax system, less state, less regulation, reforming business rates, curbing many of these bloated quangos if not scrapping them altogether, and returning control to elected ministers.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe government is under pressure to return a 10 million pound donation from business executive Frank Hester after racist comments aimed at Diane Abbott were unearthed this week.Hester, chief executive of healthcare software firm The Phoenix Partnership, reportedly said in a 2019 company meeting that Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving Black legislator, “should be shot” and made him “want to hate all Black women”.The Conservative Party’s biggest donor, Hester’s company has been paid more than 400 million pounds ($510 million) by the National Health Service and other government bodies since 2016.After the comments were published by The Guardian newspaper, Hester acknowledged that he’d been “rude about Diane Abbott” but denied being racist.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak initially criticized Hester’s comments as “unacceptable,” but it took almost 24 hours for him to call the remarks racist.Business Minister Kevin Hollinrake told broadcasters on Wednesday that the party would not give back the money, telling Sky News that “clearly” the comments were racist, but that it was right to keep the donation because Hester “is not a racist, and he has apologized for what he said.”But Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of England’s West Midlands region, told BBC radio that if it were up to him, “I would think about the company I kept and I would give that money back.”As Britain’s political parties are trying to build up funds for election campaigns later this year, should the Tories return the sum donated by Hester?Share your thoughts by adding it in the comments and we’ll highlight the most insightful ones as they come in.All you have to do is sign up and register your details – then you can then take part in the discussion. You can also sign up by clicking ‘log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here.Join the conversation with other Independent readers below or by clicking here. More