Tory chair won't say if party took £5m more from disgraced donor

The Conservative party chair, Richard Holden, repeatedly refused to say yesterday whether the party had continued to take millions from its biggest donor, Frank Hester, after it was revealed that the businessman had made comments condemned as racist and misogynistic.

- Rowena Mason

Holden said he could not comment on whether the Tories had recently accepted £5m, after it emerged that Hester told colleagues in 2019 that looking at Diane Abbott made you "want to hate all black women" and said she "should be shot".

Hester gave £10m to the party last year, making him its biggest funderin the run-up to the next election.

Asked on the BBC's Politics Live whether a further £5m had been donated, Holden four times refused to say but added that he was "comfortable about accepting money when people have been clear about their views".

He said: "Mr Hester apologised fully for his comments at the time and I think if people have apologised then we should accept that, when they've clearly made a major contrition. I can't comment on individual donations. It would be inappropriate."