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

Sir Keir Starmer took a swipe at Rishi Sunak in PMQs today (13 March), saying he cannot trick people into believing in the “completely unfunded £46bn” Labour said plans to abolish national insurance contributions would cost.The opposition leader continued by saying that “shaking the Tory magic money tree” will not bring the promise into existence.Punctuating his jab at the government’s new plan to cut taxes in the spring Budget introduced last week, Sir Keir asked the prime minister how the money will be found: “So it’s either cutting pensions or the NHS, or he will have to raise other taxes or borrowing. Which is it prime minister?” More

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsWatch as Rishi Sunak faced Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday, 13 March.The week’s PMQs touched on a Tory donor’s alleged racist remarks against Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP.The Guardian reported Frank Hester, chief executive of The Pheonix Partnership (TPP), made his comments during a company meeting in 2019, where he said: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like… 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.”TPP said Mr Hester “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbot” but claims his criticism “had nothing to do with her gender or colour of skin.”The healthcare software firm also claimed that Mr Hester phoned Ms Abbott twice in an effort to apologise personally.In a statement released to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Ms Abbott said: “It is frightening.”Sir Keir has given his support to Ms Abbott and urged the Conservatives to return the £10m donation Mr Hester gave to the party last year.Speaking to ITV’s Lorraine on Tuesday, Sir Keir said: “I’m sorry, this apology this morning that pretends what was said was not racist or was not anything to do with the fact she is a woman… I don’t buy that, I’m afraid.”After declining to label the comments as racist, a spokesperson for Mr Sunak then 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.” 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

Rishi Sunak said he would not return a £15,000 donation from Frank Hester that funded a helicopter trip as a row over the Tory donor’s alleged comments about Diane Abbott continued.At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (13 March), the prime minister said: “No… I am pleased [Mr Hester] is supporting a party that represents one of the most diverse governments in this country’s history.”Mr Hester, who donated £10m to the Tories last year, allegedly made comments about the MP including that she made him “want to hate all Black women”.A statement from Mr Hester’s firm said he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott… but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin.” More

Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis said he does not want the foreign aid budget “to exist at all” after it was revealed £3.2 billion has been allocated to the Home Office to house migrants in hotels.Appearing on BBC Politics Live today (13 March), Mr Gullis and Labour MP Sarah Champion joined the panel to discuss whether migrants should be paid to go to Rwanda.Ms Champion said: “I can announce £3.2 billion of UK foreign aid has been allocated to the Home office, for hotels for the next financial year.”Mr Gullis replied: “I don’t want the foreign aid budget to exist at all.” More

Rishi Sunak claimed Sir Keir Starmer “let antisemitism run rife’ in the Labour Party during a heated Prime Minister’s Questions today (13 March).Discussing alleged racist comments made about Labour MP Diane Abbott by top Tory donor Frank Hester, Sir Keir asked Mr Sunak: “What does the Prime Minister think it was about the hundreds of millions of pounds of NHS contracts given to Frank Hester by his Government that first attracted him to giving £10 million to the Tory Party in the first place?”Mr Sunak said he was “absolutely not going to take any lectures” from Sir Keir who he said “chose to serve a leader who let antisemitism run rife in his Labour Party”. More