Tory donor openly states Dianne Abbot should be shot..

[VestibuleVirgin]

Frank Hestor reportedly said: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV, and you’re just like… you just want to hate all black women because she’s there.
“And I don’t hate all black women at all, but I think she should be shot.
“(The executive) and Diane Abbott need to be shot.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/frank-hester-tory-donor-diane-abbott-comments-black-women-labour-b1144631.html

Abominable, disgusting. Aibu to be incecsed by this?
Money allows all sorts of behaviours apparently, particularly if you give a lot of it to a political party.

Ahh here comes the Islamphobia.

Oh and the Mayor of London isn't an anti Semite.

You come on to a thread about horrific racism towards Diane Abbott, the first female black MP and spout...racism.

Well done you.

Are you 30p in disguise?

The Labour party has a hierarchy of racism and has a nasty insidious away of consistently targeting black and brown members, councillors and MPs.

They're not any better, I'd argue they're worse

Totally revolting, but there has been so much space made for hateful comments over the last few years - like Trump in America, making it ‘acceptable’ to say disgusting things because he was the POTUS.

I’d also totally forgotten that she is suspended from the Labour Party because of her own racism scandal at about this time last year - not saying it is the same thing at all or that she deserves it before anyone misconstrues my words, just that I had totally forgotten about it until this morning.

Diane Abbott isn't currently a Labour MP.

And all the political parties have an issue with race.

What are your views on the comments made by Frank Hestor?

Here is Conservative Lord Marland on LBC claiming that Hester isn't a racist because does business with people in Jamaica and in the Far East.

https://x.com/LBC/status/1767506546622111777?s=20

'So he's not racist, because he's been to the Caribbean?'

@mrjamesob reacts to Lord Marland and Mel Stride's 'feeble' defence of donor Frank Hester after he said Diane Abbott made him 'want to hate all black women'.

That he's a nasty racist bastard, but I won't be holding my breath for any consequences or even robust condemnation for either Tories or Labour.

As i'm sure many of them have said similar in private themselves.

"and I don't hate black women at all, but i think she should be shot" - obviously not racist, clearly intemperate. Like everyone, I would be ready with the handcuffs if I believed for a minute that he thought she should actually be shot.

"You see Diane Abbott on TV and you just want to hate all black women" - it is surprisingly often said on MN that you can't help your feelings, but then it is very foolish to express your extraordinary racist feelings. Foolish and wicked too.

It is the essence of racism to see people not as individuals but as part of a group identity. Diane Abbott might be flawed, some respectable people have said she was anti-semitic, but what has that got to do with other black women?

@Notpossibly Not quite sure what you're saying. Do you mean his comments are not racist?

Amazing that someone totally lacking I. Intelligence went to grammar school and Cambridge, isn’t it?
Seriously, you can disagree with her but this sort of stuff is nonsense.

Considering two MPs have been brutally murdered in recent years these comments are unforgivable.

This wasn't said in private.

Keir Starmer tells @lorraine that the comments about Diane Abbott are "abhorrent" and says he doesn't buy the idea the remarks weren't racist

He tells the Tories "call it out and return the money"

Meanwhile Rishi Sunak's spokesman repeatedly refuses to say whether Frank Hester, who said that Diane Abbott makes him want to "hate all black women" and should therefore be shot, is a racist or made racist comments.

DH and I were just saying exactly this. It only takes one unstable, awful person to get hold of a gun. It is incitement to murder. We live in an area where stabbings and shootings are not that rare. I am sure Dianne Abbot must be terrified.

Starmer and Labour has already condemned it. So has the Liberal Democrats and Green Party.

Two ex-Tory MPs that were cleared out by Boris Johnson and Samuel Kasumu, a former Tory political advisor, have condemned it.

Samuel Kasumu has said:
"I think it’s important to note that as a black Brit Diane Abbott is somebody that is very historically significant. She was first elected in 1987, the year that I was born.

I wouldn’t have been a special advisor in Downing Street if it wasn’t for Diane Abbott. Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Kwasi Kwarteng, David Lammy – they would not be where they are today if it wasn’t for Diane Abbott. And so it’s very important to note that for many black Brits, every time Diane is attacked, we do feel it …

We feel a sense of hurt because of her historical significance. Regardless of what our politics may be, and our politics do differ, she ran so that people like me could walk. And so I think for many people who see her as an easy target, perhaps they don’t really understand just how important a figure she is in terms of our own island story."

That statement mad me tear up a bit.

Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems have now all condemned what Hester said. William Hague has also said it was racist. Labour, Lib Dems, SNP and a Tory have all sponsored an EDM condemning it.

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/61994/alleged-comments-by-frank-hester

Meanwhile, No.10 is using its go-to phrase of "unacceptable". I'm surprised Sunak can stand upright, given his lack of spine.

Me too. That was really heartfelt.

The situation couldn’t be more perfectly articulated!

Me too, genuinely.

Kwasi Kwarteng on BBC politics live has also stated that Hester's commnets are clearly racist and sexist and that they were very stupid remarks.

Kasumu said that originally he had not wanted to give an interview on this topic. But he said he changed his mind when he saw how much this mattered to his wife, who is black. He explained:

"When I told her about the words that were said, and I saw the look on her face, I understood that I had a moral obligation to speak up and speak out and say that actually words like this matter, and they’re totally unacceptable."

Good.

Good for him. How refreshing to see some honesty from him.