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Diane Abbott is worth more than the Tories and Labour put together

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Tuesday 12 March 2024 17:34 GMT
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Diane Abbott, a stalwart of Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn years, was suspended from the parliamentary party after suggesting Jewish people do not face racism
Diane Abbott, a stalwart of Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn years, was suspended from the parliamentary party after suggesting Jewish people do not face racism (PA)

Nine days after Rishi Sunak gave a speech that argued “extremists” who do not share British “values” are endangering our “democracy”, businessman Frank Hester OBE is alleged to have told colleagues during a meeting in 2019 that Diane Abbott, the MP for Hackney North, “should be shot”, and that the very sight of her makes him “want to hate all black women”.

Hester is the largest single donor to the Conservative Party. He gave the Tories £5m last May, and has announced he will donate another £5m later this month.

His software company, the Phoenix Partnership, has received more than £400m from the taxpayer via the NHS, to store the medical records of 60 million patients in the UK. And yet Sunak has yet not come forward to condemn Hester’s comments.

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