Frank Hester: Rishi Sunak gifted a £16k helicopter ride to visit Leeds by Tory donor's company
Rishi Sunak accepted nearly £16,000 from Frank Hester’s company for a helicopter ride to visit Leeds, records show.
The latest register of interests for Members of Parliament shows the Prime Minister accepted the provision of transport for a political visit on November 23 last year, the day Mr Sunak visited Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley.
The donation, worth £15,900, was made by Horsforth-based The Phoenix Partnership (TPP) - of which Mr Hester is chief executive.
During Mr Sunak’s visit to Leeds, he was quizzed over mass transit and the local economy and insisted that the government would fund vital transport improvements, as he met local business owners.
It comes as Mr Hester is alleged to have said MP Diane Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
The Leeds businessman and major Conservative Party donor has admitted making “rude” comments about Ms Abbott, but claimed they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
Downing Street has described the comments reportedly made as “unacceptable” but has refused to say whether they were racist.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats branded Mr Hester’s reported comments as “clearly racist and abhorrent” and urged the Tories to return the money he has donated to the party.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds wrote to Rishi Sunak highlighting that on top of the £10 million the Tories have received from Mr Hester, the Prime Minister accepted the helicopter ride in November.
She wrote: “Accepting and using that money can only be treated as implicitly condoning and overlooking his deeply disturbing comments and the way he has run his business.
“Anything less than returning the money will be a stain on the Conservative Party.”
Ms Abbott herself said the comments were “frightening” and “alarming” given two MPs – Jo Cox and Sir David Amess – have been murdered in recent years.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “I wouldn’t usually comment on alleged words, second-hand accounts, etc.
“But, as minister Stuart said this morning, what is alleged and reported to have been said is clearly unacceptable.”
He refused to say whether they were racist or why they were unacceptable, insisting: “I don’t have anything to add beyond what minister Stuart said this morning.”
In a statement released via his firm, Mr Hester said he had rung Ms Abbott on Monday to “apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her”.
“Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbot (sic) in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin,” the statement said.
“He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
Pressed on whether the Tories should return Mr Hester’s donations, Mr Stuart told Sky News: “We can’t cancel anybody from participation in public life, or indeed donating to parties, because they said something intemperate and wrong in their past.
“It’s not my decision, but I do welcome those who support the Conservative Party.”
Ms Abbott, first elected as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1987, has sat as an independent since April after the Labour whip was withdrawn following comments she made suggesting Jewish, Irish and Traveller people were not subject to racism “all their lives”.
She is awaiting the outcome of an independent complaints process set up by Labour to investigate her remarks.
The Guardian reported that TPP has been paid more than £400 million by the NHS and other Government bodies since 2016, having been given responsibility to look after 60 million UK medical records.