Sunday, March 17, 2024
Sunak's close links with Frank Hester
The Guardian has an interesting follow-up to the ongoing story of Diane Abbott-abuser Frank Hester's ten million pound donation to the Tory Party.
They reveal that Rishi Sunak was flown to Leeds by Frank Hester for a private tour of the businessman’s offices on the day after the autumn statement last year, raising further questions about the access afforded to the £10m donor who is bankrolling the Tories’ election campaign:
Sunak’s relationship with Hester is under the spotlight after a Guardian investigation revealed on Monday that the mega-donor made comments about Diane Abbott which have been widely condemned for being racist and misogynistic.
Sunak initially declined to comment on Hester’s 2019 remarks that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and that the MP “should be shot”. But after an outcry, the prime minister’s spokesperson said the comments were “racist and wrong”.
It has now emerged that the prime minister visited Hester’s healthcare IT company in north-west Leeds on 23 November, with the £16,000 of travel costs by helicopter met by the businessman.
The trip was made roughly three weeks after Hester’s company, the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), gave a second £5m tranche to the Conservatives last November. Hester himself donated £5m in May of last year, while a further £5m is reportedly under discussion.
Sunak was pictured on a “political visit” in Farsley in north-west Leeds hammering jewellery at a workshop that morning, and No 10 has refused to “get into details” about whether Sunak met Hester after that.
However, sources have told the Guardian that Sunak and his entourage were at TPP’s offices in Horsforth in outer Leeds in the late afternoon that day, and those present were asked to keep the visit confidential. Sunak and his team are understood to have been there for about an hour.
They add that Hester, who is the sole owner of TPP, which has been paid more than £400m by the NHS and other government bodies since 2016, primarily to look after 60m UK medical records, and whose company has profited from £135m of contracts with the Department of Health and Social Care in four years, also attended an event at Lancaster House where Sunak discussed AI with the billionaire Elon Musk in November, and was present at two party fundraisers attended by Sunak in London last June and in February this year.
Maybe Sunak should apologise for being so closely involved with this man.
They reveal that Rishi Sunak was flown to Leeds by Frank Hester for a private tour of the businessman’s offices on the day after the autumn statement last year, raising further questions about the access afforded to the £10m donor who is bankrolling the Tories’ election campaign:
Sunak’s relationship with Hester is under the spotlight after a Guardian investigation revealed on Monday that the mega-donor made comments about Diane Abbott which have been widely condemned for being racist and misogynistic.
Sunak initially declined to comment on Hester’s 2019 remarks that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and that the MP “should be shot”. But after an outcry, the prime minister’s spokesperson said the comments were “racist and wrong”.
It has now emerged that the prime minister visited Hester’s healthcare IT company in north-west Leeds on 23 November, with the £16,000 of travel costs by helicopter met by the businessman.
The trip was made roughly three weeks after Hester’s company, the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), gave a second £5m tranche to the Conservatives last November. Hester himself donated £5m in May of last year, while a further £5m is reportedly under discussion.
Sunak was pictured on a “political visit” in Farsley in north-west Leeds hammering jewellery at a workshop that morning, and No 10 has refused to “get into details” about whether Sunak met Hester after that.
However, sources have told the Guardian that Sunak and his entourage were at TPP’s offices in Horsforth in outer Leeds in the late afternoon that day, and those present were asked to keep the visit confidential. Sunak and his team are understood to have been there for about an hour.
They add that Hester, who is the sole owner of TPP, which has been paid more than £400m by the NHS and other government bodies since 2016, primarily to look after 60m UK medical records, and whose company has profited from £135m of contracts with the Department of Health and Social Care in four years, also attended an event at Lancaster House where Sunak discussed AI with the billionaire Elon Musk in November, and was present at two party fundraisers attended by Sunak in London last June and in February this year.
Maybe Sunak should apologise for being so closely involved with this man.
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As I understand it Hester gets Health contracts that are funded by taxpayer money. Where does he get his profits from?. Implication ,to me, is the millions he then donates to the Conservatives is partly or completely TAXPAYERS money going to Conservative coffers.
This 5 million that is at the moment talked about will drop out of the media spotlight as other 'juicy titbits' of news will be snatched up by the media and it forgotten. Quietly then accepted by the Conservatives by the June deadline. More taxpayers money spent into Conservative coffers?
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This 5 million that is at the moment talked about will drop out of the media spotlight as other 'juicy titbits' of news will be snatched up by the media and it forgotten. Quietly then accepted by the Conservatives by the June deadline. More taxpayers money spent into Conservative coffers?
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