Rishi Sunak allegedly visited Frank Hester’s office on £16,000 helicopter trip

Rishi Sunak reportedly visited Frank Hester’s office on a £16,000 helicopter trip paid for by the businessman.

It is alleged that Mr Hester - accused of making "racist" comments about MP Diane Abbott - paid for the Prime Minister's travel to Leeds and gave him a private tour of his company.

Mr Hester is reported to have said that Diane Abbott made him want to “hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.

The Prime Minister has come under fire over his handling of the fallout from the remarks. He eventually described them as “racist” but only after Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch broke ranks with No 10 to condemn them as such.

Mr Sunak is now facing calls to reveal the extent of his relationship with the Tory backer - who has donated about £10 million.

The Guardian reported that the Leeds visit came three weeks after Mr Hester’s software firm, the Phoenix Partnership, gave a second £5 million to Mr Sunak’s party last November.

He had already donated £5 million in May while another £5 million is reportedly on the table.

There are questions about whether his donations have bought him access to the Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak was pictured meeting small business owners at a jewellery studio in Farsley, West Yorkshire, on 23 November.

He visited Mr Hester's offices in Leeds for around an hour later that day, the Guardian reported, citing unnamed sources.

No 10 declined to comment on the Prime Minister’s “private meetings”.

Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Everyone can see that Frank Hester’s disgusting remarks were clearly racist and misogynistic. Rishi Sunak keeping these millions is inexcusable.

“There are serious questions to answer on Rishi Sunak’s close relationship with Frank Hester.

“The Prime Minister must urgently confirm what was discussed, and whether Frank Hester’s contract running over 60% of confidential UK health data or Government AI policy came up.

“And Rishi Sunak needs to grow a backbone, pay this money back, cut ties and deal with the extreme views that appear to be tolerated in his party.”

A No 10 source said: “Donations such as for flights are all publicly available in his declarations of interest. Wouldn’t get into his private meetings.”

Mr Hester has posted on LinkedIn about attending Mr Sunak’s discussion on artificial intelligence with tech billionaire Elon Musk last year and told the Telegraph: “I’ve had some quite long conversations with Rishi about AI.”

Mr Hester has apologised for making “rude” comments about Ms Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament, but claimed they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

The Prime Minister has insisted the donor’s “remorse should be accepted” as he resisted calls to hand back his £10 million donations amid the row.

Ms Abbott on Friday said “no Conservative has apologised” to her after the emergence of Mr Hester’s 2019 verbal attack.

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