Conservative leadership candidate James Cleverly has declined to rule out accepting future donations from Frank Hester, who reportedly said Labour MP Diane Abbott made him “want to hate all black women”.
The shadow home secretary is joint third out of the four candidates still vying to become Tory leader.
Mr Cleverly appeared on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme and was repeatedly asked if his pledge to “run a different Tory party” and be a “different kind of leader” would see him turn down further donations from Mr Hester, who also reportedly said Ms Abbott “should be shot”.
The controversial businessman has given the Tories £15 million since 2023, including the biggest donation the party received during the general election campaign – more than £5 million through his business The Phoenix Partnership in May.
Mr Cleverly responded on the BBC programme: “He’s apologised, he admitted that what he said was completely wrong – the reason he donated to the Conservative Party’s general election campaign was to protect the British people from the Labour Government that we now see.
“I’ve not had any discussions with Frank Hester about the future. What he said was totally unacceptable, he’s apologised for that – he has been a donor to the (Conservative) party, whether he is again in the future I don’t know.”
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer faces a possible probe over his own donations after allegedly breaking parliamentary rules by failing to declare clothing gifted to his wife Victoria.
Prominent Labour donor Lord Alli reportedly covered the cost of a personal shopper, clothes and alterations for Lady Starmer both before and after Labour’s election win in July.
It is alleged the donations were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests.
Mr Cleverly was asked on the BBC programme if he thought Mr Hester’s alleged racist comments were equivalent to the row over Lady Victoria’s clothes.
He said: “Well that wealthy donor (Lord Alli) was then given a pass to Number 10, to run free at the very heart of Government, something that Mr Hester has not ever had.”
Lord Alli had been given a Downing Street security pass without apparently having a Government role.
Mr Cleverly also accused Sir Keir of “hypocrisy” over the donations.
He told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “What we have got to recognise is Keir Starmer and Sue Gray (his chief of staff) have been very, very critical of Conservatives over exactly this.
“If your position is that, well, ‘these things happen’ and we should be thoughtful and flexible in our response, that’s fine.
“But if, like Keir Starmer, you have been really aggressive in your criticism of Conservatives for this, then you’ve got to make sure that you are totally above reproach, and he’s failed to do that.
“I think it’s absolutely legitimate that we point out the hypocrisy of someone who basically got his job by criticising others for what he’s now doing.”
Though Mr Cleverly did not rule out future donations from Mr Hester, he did say “cutting a deal” with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage would be “lazy” and “naive”.
Trevor Phillips suggested to Mr Cleverly that Labour could be in Government for a decade if the right wing remains divided.
Mr Cleverly replied: “Your analysis is completely off. We lost the confidence of voters, we need to regain that credibility, we need to have an honest conversation about the relationship between the state, the levels of taxation, the levels of immigration.
“The lazy idea that somehow cutting a deal with Nigel Farage will make all those problems go away, I think, is naive at best and deeply counterproductive at worst.
“We can and we should win those voters back by being ourselves, not by doing some pale imitation of someone else.”
On Tuesday, the second ballot in the Conservative leadership contest put Robert Jenrick first with 33 votes, followed by Kemi Badenoch with 28.
Mr Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat tied with 21 votes.
