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The party’s biggest-ever donor, currently embroiled in a race row, is understood to have given the party £15m in the past year.
The Conservatives have received an as-yet-undeclared £5 million sum from Frank Hester, the party donor embroiled in a race row, Tortoise understands.
A Tory source said the party was “sitting on” the cash. If confirmed in the next Electoral Commission update in early June, it takes the total donation from Hester in the past year to £15 million.
Hester is at the centre of a scandal, after it emerged that he said Diane Abbott, the UK’s longest-serving black female MP, made him “just want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
According to a months-long investigation by The Guardian, he also said “we take the piss out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner” and asked if there was “no room for the Indians?” in a busy work meeting, before suggesting people “climb on the roof”. Hester’s lawyers have previously said that his comments were distorted and taken out of context, and were not a true or accurate characterisation of the company or Hester.
Hester, who has apologised for being “rude” about Abbott but insisted he “abhors racism”, is the Conservatives’ biggest donor, according to the party, which has resisted calls to return the money despite the deepening row.
Initially, ministers described his comments as wrong, but refused to describe them as racist. That was until trade secretary Kemi Badenoch issued a statement saying “the comments as reported were racist”.
A day later, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told parliament the comments “were wrong. They were racist.” But he dodged calls from political rivals to return Hester’s donation.
Ministers have also refused to criticise Hester personally. Unveiling the government’s new definition of extremism on Thursday morning, Communities Secretary Michael Gove described the remarks as “horrific” but said he was exercising “Christian forgiveness” after the entrepreneur had “shown contrition”.
According to the Electoral Commission, Hester has donated £10 million to the Conservative Party in the past year, with half the sum coming via his company The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), and half from Hester directly.
This register is only updated every quarter, meaning there is a lag between the money being received and it being publicly declared.
In addition, Hester provided Sunak with the use of a helicopter for a political visit in November, valued at almost £16,000.
The further boost to the Tories’ war chest, which comes ahead of this year’s general election, explains the party’s reluctance to criticise Hester himself, the source noted.
That was a view shared by Labour’s Anneliese Dodds, who told Tortoise: “Frank Hester’s remarks were clearly racist, misogynistic and have no place in our politics.
“There is absolutely no excuse for the Conservatives accepting additional money from Frank Hester. They should pay this back before it hits the coffers.
“Rishi Sunak needs to pay back every penny, cut ties with Frank Hester and apologise unequivocally to Diane Abbott.”
A Conservative Party spokesman did not deny that the party had received the additional £5 million, telling Tortoise: “Declarable donations will be published in the usual way by the Electoral Commission.”
Hester has been approached for comment.