'No way' Handing back Hester's cash may not be viable option for Tories

Frank Hester will be the biggest Conservative donor in history, contributing £10m towards Rishi Sunak ’s election and potentially another £5m on top of that – if the party keeps his money.

- Rowena Mason

A new name who first appeared on the donor scene last year, his contribution could make up almost half of the £34m the Tories are allowed to raise in the year before the next general election.

However, pressure has been growing all week for Sunak and his party chair, Richard Holden , to hand back Hester’s cash after the Guardian reported that Hester had said looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and that the MP “should be shot”.

Sunak belatedly acknowledged that the remarks, made in 2019, were “racist and wrong”, and Hester has apologised for making “rude” comments, while maintaining that they had nothing to do with Abbott’s gender or the colour of her skin, and that he abhors racism.

And so, as it stands, the money remains in Conservative coffers and is likely to be bankrolling Sunak’s election campaign already.

Even some Tories believe Sunak should hand it back given the outcry over Hester’s remarks. But the question in Conservative circles is whether the party can afford to return the money at this late stage.

“Nope, no way, not going to happen. They’ll have spent it and I don’t see where they’d get that amount of money from again. It’s so much. And they are in election mode now,” said one former senior Tory official .