The Prime Minister's spokesperson has earlier declined to say whether Frank Hester’s alleged comments that Diane Abbott made him 'want to hate all black women' were racist.
Rishi Sunak has said that comments reportedly made by a major Tory Party donor about Diane Abbott were “racist and wrong” after earlier refusing to describe them as such.
In a new statement issued on Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “The comments allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong. He has now rightly apologised for the offence caused and where remorse is shown it should be accepted. The chief executive of healthcare software firm The Phoenix Partnership , has admitted making “rude” comments about Ms Abbott, but claimed they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
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But in a sign of divisions within the Tory Party over the issue, ministers sent on the morning media round defended Mr Hester. As recently as Tuesday afternoon, a No 10 spokeswoman had declined to “get into private conversations” when pressed on whether Mr Sunak had spoken to Mr Hester to find out whether he uttered the remarks.
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