‘Diane Abbott Needs To Be Shot’: Tory Minister ‘Welcomes’ Major Donor’s Money But Condemns ‘Awful’ Remarks

Conservative Minister Graham Stuart said he “welcomes” the millions of pounds in donations his party has received from businessman Frank Hester but condemned remarks the donor made about Labour politician Diane Abbott in 2019.

Remarks by Hester, CEO of healthcare technology firm the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), were revealed in a report by The Guardian published Monday that published the businessman’s comments at a company meeting about an executive from another business and Abbott.

The newspaper reported that Hester said: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you’re just like, I hate, 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. She’s stupid … If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It’s not as good as her dying. It would be much better if she died. She’s consuming resource. She’s eating food that other people could eat. You know?”

Hester is the Conservative Party’s “biggest ever donor” and his company has received over £400m from the NHS and various government entities since 2016, including £135m worth of contracts from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the past four years.

The businessman made a £5m donation to the Conservatives in May 2023, followed by another £5m contributed by his company in November last year.

After the comments surfaced, amid pressure from opposition parties for the Tories to return the donations, Hester apologised publicly and a Tory party spokesperson said: “Mr Hester has made clear that while he was rude, his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor the colour of her skin. He has since apologised.”

Stuart, appearing on Sky News, was interrogated by host Wilfred Frost on the party’s position on donor’s comments.

Frost: “Let me just read what he said. He said: ‘It’s like trying not to be racist, but you see Diane Abbott on the television and you just want to hate all black women because she’s there. I don’t hate all black women, but I think she should be shot. Diane Abbott needs to be shot.’ I mean, that is based on the colour of her skin.”

Stuart: “And they’re truly awful remarks, aren’t they? So there’s nothing I can say apart from to condemn them and say that he’s absolutely right to apologise.”

Frost: “So, should the Conservative Party spokesperson yesterday have said it’s got nothing to do with the colour of her skin?”

Stuart: “Well, that’s clearly what he said. He used the wrong language. He was annoyed with Diane Abbott and was making a wide point, but I’m not remotely tempted to try and defend it. He shouldn’t have said it. It was half a decade ago in a private meeting, but that doesn’t really excuse it, and that’s why he’s quite right to apologise profoundly, profusely and completely, because those words are not defensible and I’m not here today in any way to seek to defend them.”

Frost: “So, you know what my follow-up is? Should the Tory party return the money, the many millions he’s given? Or are you OK to spend money that has come from him? He’s only apologising because he’s been caught out.”

Stuart: “Yeah, and it’s obviously, as I say, deeply regrettable. But everybody… 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. And it’s not my decision. But I do welcome those who support the Conservative Party to ensure that we have Rishi Sunak, of course, our first Hindu prime minister…”

Frost: “You welcome… You welcome… Sorry. You don’t have to return… Not returning his money is something else. You’re saying you welcome his money.”

Stuart: “No, I said I welcome all those who seek to ensure that our first Hindu prime minister stays prime minister, and that we don’t have [Labour leader] Keir Starmer becoming prime minister of this country.”

Frost: “So somebody else that might have said things like this in the past, you welcome their money?”

Stuart: “I’m saying that I welcome those who contribute, and I’m not here to sit in judgement on one remark, which, however deeply inappropriate…”

Frost: “Yeah, but you’ve said that after we’ve been discussing this specific point. I mean, I don’t mean to tie people in knots and push with these things. If you could clarify, should the Conservative Party return the money?”

Stuart: “That’s not my decision to make.”

Abbott, the first black woman elected to parliament, has sat since 1987 and held various positions within the shadow cabinet during Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Last year, she faced suspension from the Labour Party following her comments that Irish, Jewish, and Traveller communities do not experience lifelong racism. After retracting her statement and issuing an apology “for any distress caused.” The party removed her from the parliamentary group. As a result, she currently serves as an independent MP while awaiting the outcome of an investigation.

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