Businessman Frank Hester has been widely condemned after the emergence of comments he allegedly made about Diane Abbott.
Hackney MP Ms Abbott has since responded, saying the Tory donor’s reported comments had put her in a “frightening” position.
But who is Mr Hester and what is he alleged to have said about Ms Abbott?
How Mr Hester made his fortune
The 58-year-old healthcare entrepreneur is founder and chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership (TPP).
Based in Leeds, TPP describes itself as “a leading global provider of healthcare technology”.
It says it provides “vital clinical IT services in… more than 2,600 GP practices”.
More from Politics
During the pandemic, it was reported to have won a six-figure contract to supply data on vaccine uptake levels.
Mr Hester, who was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to healthcare, made last year’s Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated fortune of £415m.
Advertisement
He was a computer programmer when he founded TTP in 1997 and was listed as one of the UK’s top 50 innovators in the national health publication Health Service Journal in 2013.
Huge donations to the Tories
Mr Hester donated £10m to the Tories last year, including a £5m donation to Rishi Sunak that came from him personally and another £5m that came from his healthcare software firm in November, Electoral Commission records show.
His ties to the party go back a long way.
In 2013, he travelled to India with David Cameron, the then-prime minister, as part of what was Britain’s biggest-ever trade delegation.
“This trip is worth a lot of money to us – it’s invaluable,” Mr Hester reportedly told the Financial Times during the trip.
“Being with the PM and UK Trade and Investment means we [see] the right people.”
Image: Frank Hester with former Tory leader and prime minister David Cameron
Image: Frank Hester chats with ex-Conservative PM Boris Johnson
The following year, Jeremy Hunt, the then health secretary, visited TPP’s headquarters, saying: “Technology is the key to 21st century personalised healthcare, so it is great to see companies like TPP leading the way with new software that will put [care home] residents in control of their health.”
What were his alleged remarks about Ms Abbott?
According to The Guardian, Mr Hester made remarks about Ms Abbott in 2019 during a meeting at his Leeds company headquarters.
In an article published on Monday, the publication reported 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.”
How has Mr Hester responded?
A spokesperson for the entrepreneur released a statement saying: “Frank Hester accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin.
“The Guardian is right when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s.”
It added: “He rang Diane Abbott twice today to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her, and is deeply sorry for his remarks.
“He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison which has no place in public life.”
How Ms Abbott responded
In her own statement, Ms Abbott, the UK’s first black woman to become an MP, detailed how “alarming” the alleged remarks were in light of the murder of two politicians since 2016.
“It is frightening,” said Ms Abbott. “I live in Hackney and do not drive so I find myself, at weekends, popping on a bus or even walking places more than most MPs.
“I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway. But to hear someone talking like this is worrying.”
Image: Diane Abbott
She added: “For all of my career as an MP I have thought it important not to live in a bubble, but to mix and mingle with ordinary people. The fact that two MPs have been murdered in recent years makes talk like this all the more alarming.”
PM’s spokesperson says comments ‘unacceptable’ but ministers refuse to call them racist
Asked about the reported remarks at a regular briefing with journalists, Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said they were “clearly unacceptable”, but refused to say if they were racist.
Energy minister Graham Stuart told Sky News the remarks were “truly awful”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
9:01
Graham Stuart MP said the alleged comments about Diane Abbott MP by Tory donor Frank Hester were ‘truly awful’, but says he
The PM’s spokesperson referred to Mr Stuart’s comments as he said: “I wouldn’t usually comment on alleged words, second-hand accounts, etcetera.
“But, as minister Stuart said this morning, what is alleged and reported to have been said is clearly unacceptable.”
He refused to be drawn on why they were unacceptable, adding: “I don’t have anything to add beyond what minister Stuart said this morning.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride also told broadcasters the comments were “inappropriate”, but added: “I think the critical point here is I don’t think what he was saying was a gender-based or a race-based comment.”
Conservative MP and former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, however, said that the reported comments were “clearly racist and sexist”.
Calls for funds from Mr Hester to be returned
Sir Keir Starmer, London mayor Sadiq Khan and other political opponents of the Tories have demanded that the party return the money Mr Hester donated.
The Labour leader told ITV’s Lorraine: “The comments about Diane Abbott are just abhorrent.
“And Diane has been a trailblazer, she has paved the way for others, she’s probably faced more abuse than any other politician over the years on a sustained basis.
“And I’m sorry, this apology this morning that is pretending that what was said wasn’t racist or anything to do with the fact she’s a woman, I don’t buy that I’m afraid, and I think that it’s time the Tory party called it out and returned the money.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:34
Khan demands PM ‘grow a backbone’
The PM has not directly commented on the demands, nor has the Conservative Party.
Asked if the party should return Mr Hester’s donations, Mr Stuart said: “We can’t cancel anybody from participation in public life, or indeed, donating to parties because they said something intemperate or wrong in their past.”
Rachel Reeves will seek to gauge the unfolding impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs blitz on Wednesday when she holds talks with some of the City’s top executives.
Sky News has learnt the chancellor will hold talks with bosses from companies including Hargreaves Lansdown, Legal & General, Lloyds Banking Group and M&G amid ongoing volatility in global financial markets.
Insiders said the talks had been convened to help frame the Treasury’s financial services growth and competitiveness strategy.
However, they acknowledged that the fallout from US tariffs, while not directly affecting most City employers, would feature prominently on Wednesday’s agenda.
“The chancellor will use this meeting to show leadership, building on her statement to the House earlier today, and reiterating that the government will act decisively to take the right decisions in our national interest and protect working people,” a Treasury insider said.
Ms Reeves would stress a commitment to working with international partners to reduce barriers to trade, while pursuing the best possible bilateral deal with the US, they added.
Charlie Nunn, the Lloyds boss; Antonio Simoes of L&G; and Dan Olley, Hargreaves Lansdown’s chief, will all attend the talks.
It will be the latest in a string of meetings the chancellor has held in recent weeks in a bid to boost economic growth.
Her budget last October sparked a furious backlash from the business community, while last month’s spring statement raised fresh fears about the possibility of further tax rises later this year.
None of the companies invited to Wednesday’s meeting would comment when approached by Sky News.
Despite the ongoing market meltdown on US trade tariffs, executives at major cryptocurrency firms Messari and Sygnum are bullish on institutional Bitcoin adoption later in 2025.
Speaking on a panel at Paris Blockchain Week on April 8, Messari CEO Eric Turner and Sygnum Bank co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said they expect a significant shift in the banking sector’s involvement with crypto in the second half of the year.
According to the executives, the global banking push into Bitcoin (BTC) services has great potential to happen in the second half of 2025 as regulators embrace crypto, including stablecoins and crypto services by banks.
“I think we’re probably looking at a muted Q2, but I’m really excited for Q3 and Q4,” Messari’s Turner said during the panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, forecasting “really interesting” things coming to the crypto market in 2025.
“When you look at the potential of having market structure regulation in the US, stablecoin regulation, and just the fact that across the board, not just President Trump himself, but the SEC and all these regulatory industries are really embracing crypto,” Turner said.
Paris Blockchain Week’s panel with Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Bancor co-founder Eyal Hertzog, Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger, Messari CEO Eric Turner, AWS fintech leader Alex Matsuo and Near chief operating officer Chris Donovan. Source: Cointelegraph
Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said international banks with US branches are also poised to enter the market once the legal landscape becomes clearer:
“I think it’s a matter of fact that US banks are preparing to be able to offer crypto custody and at least crypto spot trading services anytime soon.”
“I think by then I would agree with you, Eric,” he continued, projecting a continued phase of market uncertainty until the US establishes a clear regulatory framework.
With the establishment of clear crypto rules for banks in the US, there will be a rush for crypto services by large international banks that are incorporated outside of the US but have a US-based presence, Eichenberger said.
“Some of them may have had their strategic plans in their cupboard to offer crypto-related services, but have been afraid that at some point they will be gone after by any of the US regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:
“Now I think there’s no one to be afraid of anymore in terms of regulatory authorities worldwide. So I think many of the large international banks will launch this year.”
Global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff measures may come to an end with a potential deal with China as investors remain concerned about escalation from both sides.
Trump’s April 2 announcement of reciprocal import tariffs sent shockwaves through global equity and crypto markets. The measures include a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, effective April 5, with higher levies — such as a 34% tariff on Chinese imports — set to begin on April 9.
However, the tariff negotiations may only be “posturing” for the US to reach an agreement with China, according to Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.
“In the end, almost all the other tariff negotiations and rhetoric are all about getting China to agree a deal,” Pal wrote in an April 8 X post, adding:
“That is the big prize and both China and the US understand it and need it. Everything else is negotiation posturing. China needs a weaker $ and the US needs tariffs.”
In response to US tariffs, China imposed a 34% tariff on all US imports effective April 10, media outlet Xinhua News reported on April 4. China’s foreign ministry also vowed to “fight till the end” against Trump’s tariffs, which it called “bullying” by the world’s largest economy.
China overtakes the US in global trade. Source: Econovis
China overtook the US in 2012 to become the world’s largest trading nation by the total value of exports and imports, surpassing $4 trillion in goods trade that year, according to The Guardian.
Crypto markets watch trade outcome closely
As the trade dispute continues to evolve, analysts say a potential agreement between the two global superpowers could serve as a key catalyst for recovery in digital asset markets.
Crypto markets have a 70% chance to bottom by June 2025 before recovering, Nansen analysts predicted.
Investor appetite for risk assets such as Bitcoin will depend on the global tariff responses from other countries, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.
“We have reached somewhat of a local bottom in regard to tariffs and the impact on prices,” the analyst said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X, adding:
“Trump came out guns blazing, and we’ve mostly seen the worst from the US side, so we’ll see if other countries are willing to drop some of the tariffs because it’s very likely the US will do the same.”