Frank Hurst: Controversial donor embroiled in race row gave further £5m to Tories, report says

A donor embroiled in a race row over alleged comments about Diane Abbott has reportedly charged the Conservative Party a further £5m.

businessman frank hester He made headlines earlier this week after The Guardian reported he told staff the MP made him “want to hate all black women” and “should be shot”.

Mr Hester said he was “deeply sorry” for the commentsbut insists they have “nothing to do with her gender or skin color.”

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He and his company The Phoenix Partnership have donated £10m to the Conservative Party since the 2019 general election.

But according to Turtle Media, Mr Hester donated a further £5m to the party, which has yet to be declared as the Electoral Commission only publishes a list of donations every three months.

The news comes as Rishi Sunak faces growing pressure to return cash to the chief executive after the Prime Minister himself called the comments “racist and wrong” .

But Mr Sunak The possibility of moving out seems to be ruled out Speaking to reporters today at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, he said: “When someone expresses genuine remorse or remorse for something they have done, that’s what he did and accepting that is the right thing to do.”

Labor said the Conservatives had “absolutely no excuse” for accepting Mr Hester’s extra donation and called on the party to pay it back “before the funds are in the bank”.

Labor leader Anneliese Dodds added: “Frank Hurst’s comments are clearly racist, misogynistic and have no place in our politics.

“Rishi Sunak needs to pay back every penny, cut ties with Frank Hirst and issue an unequivocal apology to Diane Abbott.”

The Lib Dems responded to the call and demanded immediate confirmation from the Conservatives whether the report was true.

Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Conservative politicians need to understand that just because someone offers you millions of pounds, it doesn’t make it inexcusable or excusable.”

A spokesman for the Conservative Party said: “The Electoral Commission will publish reportable donations in line with established practice.”