Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said alleged comments made about Diane Abbott by a Tory donor were “racist” – but that there should be “space for forgiveness”.

Ms Badenoch is the first cabinet minister to use the term to describe Frank Hester‘s reported remarks about the former Labour MP, after government ministers including Graham Stuart and Mel Stride criticised the comments but declined to call them racist.

Mr Hester allegedly said Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and that the MP “should be shot”, according to reports in the Guardian.

In a statement written on his behalf on Monday night, Mr Hester – who donated £10 to the Tories last year – said he was “deeply sorry” about the comments but said they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson has described the remarks as “unacceptable” but also would not say if they he believed they were racist.

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But in a post on X, Ms Badenoch wrote: “Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist. I welcome his apology.

“Abbott and I disagree on a lot. But the idea of linking criticism of her, to being a black woman is appalling.

“It’s never acceptable to conflate someone’s views with the colour of their skin.”

She added: “MPs have a difficult job balancing multiple interests – often under threats of intimidation as we saw recently in parliament.”

“Some people make flippant comments without thinking of this context.

“This is why there needs to be space for forgiveness where there is contrition.”

According to the Westminster Accounts project, a joint venture between Sky News and Tortoise Media to shine a light on how money works in politics, Mr Hester’s Phoenix Partnership has donated £5.1m to the Conservatives since the 2019 election and has also individually donated £5m.

By Matthew Thompson

Here we are again. For the second time in almost as many weeks, Conservative ministers are being sent out to defend reportedly racist comments, accepting that they are “wrong” without acknowledging that they are racist.

According to the Guardian, major Tory donor Frank Hester said at a 2019 meeting that former Labour MP Diane Abbott made him “want to hate all black women”. He denies that, but accepts that what he said was serious enough to warrant a public apology.

To which the obvious question is, if what he said was so wrong that he felt the need to apologise, but it wasn’t racist or sexist, what is he apologising for?

At the morning briefing for journalists, the prime minister’s official spokesperson was asked variations of this question no less than eight times. And answer came there none. Similarly, cabinet ministers on morning broadcast rounds tied themselves in knots trying to condemn the remarks without branding them racist.

That is, until a late afternoon intervention from Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who tweeted that the comments “as reported” were racist, after all, but that there should be “space for forgiveness”.

The parallels with the recent controversy over comments Lee Anderson made about London Mayor Sadiq Khan and his “Islamist mates” are stark, and perhaps instructive.

That controversy rumbled on for several days, as minister after minister was quizzed about the comments. But it seems lessons are already being learned.

This time, after several hours of pressure, a cabinet minister has broken ranks to give a straight answer to a straight question. Others may now follow suit.

If so, even though political opponents will continue their attacks, it may well have nipped a growing PR disaster in the bud.

The company also made a single donation of £15,900 to Mr Sunak. Dated 11 December 2023, the donation was categorised as “support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation”.

The prime minister’s entry in the register of members’ financial interests said the donation involved the “provision of [a] helicopter to fly me to a political visit and event on 23 November 2023”.

According to The Guardian, Mr Hester made the remarks about Ms Abbott in 2019 during a meeting at his Leeds company headquarters.

He reportedly 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.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Ms Abbott – the UK’s first black woman to become an MP – said Mr Hester’s comments had put her in a “frightening” position and that she found the remarks “alarming” following the murders of fellow politicians Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021.

“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.”

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.”

Ms Badenoch followed fellow Tory MPs Kwasi Kwarteng and Marcus Fysh who both condemned Mr Hester’s alleged remarks, with the former chancellor saying: “If he said what he is alleged to have said, I can’t see how they’re not racist comments.”

Opposition parties have strongly criticised the government’s response to Mr Hester’s alleged remarks, with London mayor Sadiq Khan saying it “beggars belief” that the Tories have “failed to call out” the remarks as “racist and misogynistic”.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have also called on the Conservatives to return the money donated by Mr Hester.

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In her statement, Ms Abbott also appealed for support from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who removed the whip from her last year after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people are not subject to racism “all their lives”- something she later apologised for.

Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine programme, Sir Keir described her as “a trailblazer [who] has paved the way for others”, and said she had “probably faced more abuse than any other politician over the years on a sustained basis”.

The Labour leader also accused the Conservatives of “pretending that what was said wasn’t racist or anything to do with the fact she’s a woman”.

Chair of the Labour Party, Anneliese Dodds, also told Sky News the party had been in touch with Ms Abbott and would “continue to make sure” her welfare was looked after.