The Conservatives are facing a major donations backlash today after it was confirmed the party has taken a new £5million gift from race-row super-donor Frank Hester.
Mr Hester was at the centre of a scandal earlier this year after it was revealed he made an outburst about Labour leftwing MP Diane Abbott, saying she made him ‘hate all black women’ and ‘should be shot’.
Electoral Commission figures confirmed today that Mr Hester, who had already given the Tories £10million, has made new donations totalling £5million this year.
The party defended accepting the cash from his Leeds-based firm, The Phoenix Partnership (TPPP), saying he ‘had apologised and shown contrition and we consider the matter resolved’.
But Ms Abbott slammed the decision this morning, saying it was ‘an insult to me and all black women.’
The donations data also revealed that Labour received £180,000 from the artist Sir Grayson Perry.
It has also been handed £5million from former Extinction Rebellion funder Dale Vince.
Mr Hester was at the centre of a scandal earlier this year after it was revealed he made an outburst about Labour leftwing MP Diane Abbott, saying she made him ‘hate all black women’ and ‘should be shot’.
Ms Abbott slammed the decision this morning, saying it was ‘an insult to me and all black women.’
Electoral Commission data released on Thursday showed the payments from Mr Hester’s software firm, the Phoenix Partnership, in January.
He also handed the Tories £10 million last year, bringing the total from the party’s biggest donor to £15 million.
It was reported in March that Mr Hester said Ms Abbott – who in 1987 became the first black woman elected to Parliament – made him want to ‘hate all black women’ and ‘should be shot’.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Mr Hester has rightly apologised for comments made in the past. As Mr Hester has apologised and shown contrition and we consider the matter resolved.
‘The Conservative Party is funded by membership, fundraising and donations. All reportable donations are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law. Indeed, such observations can be made about who our donors are, precisely because our donations are transparently published.
‘Fundraising is a legitimate part of the democratic process. The alternative is taxpayer-funding of political campaigning, which would mean less money for frontline services like schools and hospitals–or being in the pocket of the trade unions, like the Labour Party.’
But Ms Abbott tweeted: ‘Rishi Sunak belatedly admitted Frank Hester’s remarks that ‘I made him hate all black woman and should be shot’ were racist.
‘Now it turns out Sunak accepted a further £5 million from him. An insult to me and all black women.’
The donations data also revealed that Labour received £180,000 from the artist Sir Grayson Perry.
It has also been handed £5million from former Extinction Rebellion funder Dale Vince.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: ‘How low can Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives go? If the Conservatives spend this money they will be proudly funded by a man who made the most appalling racist and sexist comments.
‘Ultimately the buck stops with Rishi Sunak. Sunak must personally intervene and make sure not a penny of this money is spent.’