Cabinet minister Mark Harper denies Conservative party has a racial problem

A minister has denied the Conservative Party has a race problem after receiving at least £10m from a donor accused of racism.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told the BBC he was in the “most ethnically diverse cabinet ever”.

Mr Harper said the party welcomes members “regardless of race”.

Donor Frank Hester has apologized to former Labor MP Diane Abbott after he reportedly said she made him “hate all black women” and said she “should be shot”.

Mr Harper also declined to comment on reports that the Conservative Party had accepted a further £5m from Mr Hester, which would take his total donations to the party to £15m in less than a year. become.

He told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he was not involved in party funds, but that “any future donations will be made public in the normal way.”

“As the Prime Minister said this week, we are the party proudly led by Asia's first British Prime Minister.”

He said the current cabinet is “the most ethnically diverse cabinet ever.”

“We are a party that welcomes people from all over the UK, regardless of their background or race, if they share our values ​​and approach to politics,” he added.

Mr Harper said Mr Hester's apology “should be accepted”.

But former Downing Street adviser Samuel Kasum said he was disappointed by Mr Harper's claims.

Kasum said having the “most diverse cabinet in history” was not a “get-out-of-jail-free card” on racial issues.

Boris Johnson's former adviser has frequently criticized the Conservative Party's approach to race issues since he resigned from government over racist reporting.

Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., Kasum said, “When it comes to confronting racism and discrimination and uniting communities, it's not the color of your skin that matters. It's the content of your character and your willingness to lead.” It has to be,” he said.

Kasum added: “Some of the most divisive politicians are people like Suela Braverman, the former interior minister who is of Indian descent.”

On Sunday, Baroness Warsi, the Conservative Party's first Muslim party chair, said the party had become known as an “institutionally xenophobic and racist party”.

Baroness Warsi, who was Conservative Party leader from 2010 to 2012, spoke on 'Politics North' and said: 'We should not be a party that takes money from people who think: Ta. [Mr Hester] It is said that he had. ”

The Guardian reported that Mr. Hester made the comments about Mr. Abbott during a meeting at the company's headquarters in 2019 while criticizing a female executive at another organization.

The newspaper reported that he went on to say, “I'm trying not to be a racist, but you watch Diane Abbott on TV and you hate her as much as I do. She's got a girlfriend. “I just want to hate all black women, and me too,” she said. I don't hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.”

The BBC has not heard the recording and has not been able to independently verify the alleged statements.

Mr. Hester, an IT executive, apologized for the “disrespectful” comments he made about Ms. Abbott, but said the comments had “nothing to do with her gender or the color of her skin.”

in social media posts, Hester later said he “hates racism” and called racism “a poison that has no place in public life.”

The Guardian's investigation sparked a week of political backlash against Hester and thrust Abbott into the center of a debate over racism in politics.

In his article, Mr Abbott, now an independent MP, slammed racism in both the Conservative and Labor parties.

She claimed that the government's plan to deport Rwanda shows that it intends to play the “race card” as the next election approaches. Mr Abbott also criticized the Labor Party, saying, “Racism in politics is not just a problem for one political party.''

The Labor MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended by Labor in April last year after writing in the Observer that Irish, Jewish and Traveler people were not subject to racism 'for life'. received. She later recanted her statement and apologized “for any distress caused.”

Former Labor deputy leader Harriet Harman told the program that Mr Harper's comments proved there was still a “problem”.

“Even though there has been an influx of black people and women into politics, there is still a lot more backlash and that’s what people need to realize they are facing,” she said.

“The danger in confronting discrimination is complacency.”

Herrmann added that the reason Conservatives were “hesitant” to criticize Hester and return donations was because “they accepted so much money.”

But she said Labor “absolutely needs to go further” in tackling racism.

“Who's to say there isn't a problem? We have to recognize that this is a wicked and terrible problem,” Herman said.

Shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth said Labor “cannot be complacent when it comes to racism and must challenge it”.

He added: “When we see Islamophobia and anti-Semitism within our party in the same way that we see it in society as a whole, we must challenge it.”