The government has “drawn a line” under the Frank Hester race row and shouldn’t have to give back the money he donated, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The business secretary, who was the first cabinet minister to break ranks and label his reported comments about Diane Abbott as racist last week, suggested she would be comfortable accepting further money from the Tory donor.
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Speaking to Sky News, she said she decided to condemn the remarks ahead of her colleagues because as the equalities minister and the only black woman in cabinet “this was something that it was important that I spoke up about”.
Asked if she would feel comfortable accepting further donations from Mr Hester, she said: “I think if somebody has apologised and the comments appear to have been first of all very flippant, said a long time ago, I think it is fine for us to be able to accept and forgive and draw a line under it.
“Obviously, if something else happens in the future that might be something that we reconsider.
“In regards to donations to the party, people keep asking me, ‘do you think the money should be kept’? I have been very clear that, yes, I do think so.”
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Mr Hester, who donated £10m to the Tories last year, is reported to have said that left-wing MP Ms Abbott made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
Ms Badenoch was the first cabinet minister to break ranks and say the comments were “racist” – though she added at the time that there should be space for “forgiveness”.
Until this point, ministers had said the comments were “wrong” but did not go as far as calling them racist.
Downing Street had also refused to call the remarks “racist”, insisting instead that they were “unacceptable”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later condemned the remarks as “racist and wrong”, but he has continued to face calls to return the money Mr Hester has donated and confirm whether a further £5m is in the pipeline.
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Sky News understands the government is “in talks” about this extra money which, if accepted, would take the amount Mr Hester has donated to the party in the last year to £15m.
In other media interviews this morning, Ms Badenoch branded continued interest in the story “pure media bubble speculation”, saying on BBC Breakfast that it is only dominating front pages because “you are not interested in the work that the government is doing”.
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On LBC, she said: “This was something that happened five years ago. He wasn’t talking to Diane Abbott, it wasn’t even really about Diane Abbott.”
Ms Badenoch’s remarks reflect a government determined to move on from a row that dominated what some have dubbed Mr Sunak’s worst week in office.
The embattled prime minister has also faced rumours of a plot to replace him and the defection of former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson to the Reform party.
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He is seeking to shift the political debate to the gradually improving economic outlook as he tries to shore up his leadership.
Launching a fightback last night, Mr Sunak vowed that 2024 “will be the year Britain bounces back” in comments released by Downing Street.
Later today he will set out reforms to boost apprenticeships and cut red tape for small businesses, at a conference in Warwickshire that is being hosted by Ms Badenoch.
