By David Osland

This was the week the Tories pledged not to engage with extremists. Except for the ones that write £15m cheques to the Conservative Party, it seems.

Frank Hester, chief executive of The Phoenix Partnership, is the biggest individual donor in British politics. The Leeds-based software developer specialises in healthcare technology and is heavily dependent on outsourced public sector work.

During the pandemic, it handled the task of collating data on vaccine uptake levels on behalf of the government, for instance. Its core product is SystmOne, the database that stores 61m electronic health records on just about everybody in Britain, for the use of the NHS.

Hester has clocked up a net worth of £415m, according to the 2023 Sunday Times Rich List. The designation “multimillionaire” somehow seems to shortchange the vocabulary appropriate to a fortune on such sumptuous scale.

But this guy has plainly done very nicely, thank you, from richly-rewarded contracts dished out by the party he lavishly funds.

All entirely above board, mind you. In the lapidary summation of the inquiry into the Tory mayor of Teesside’s controversial decision to dish out £120m of development land to two mates for under a ton, there is “no evidence to support allegations of corruption or illegality”.

But it doesn’t look too clever, does it? And this is before we get to Hester’s opinions on Britain’s best-known black Labour MP, which would be a gross misconduct sacking offence at just about every employer in the country with a semi-functioning HR department. Except when you’re the boss, probably.

As reported by the Guardian, he told colleagues: “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.”

If that’s how he talks in a business meeting, God knows what he’s like over a beer with his mates.

He comes across as a less than charming a bloke, with inarticulate views only slightly to the right of the average comedian on the northern working men’s club circuit in the 1970s.  Notice how the delivery even purloins the classic “I’m not saying my mother in law’s fat, but …” set-up line.

The revelations have dominated the headlines this week and have certainly made the government – which initially refused to classify Hester’s words as racist – squirm.

Labour has naturally demanded that the Tories return the £15m, in the full knowledge that that ain’t gonna happen. The money is already spent, for starters.

And anyway, why would a party that happily trousers bungs from sundry Russian oligarchs and a sidekick of an ousted Egyptian dictator scruple at banking the gifts of a half-arsed poundshop loudmouth?

The bigger question is whether any individual, specially one who owns a company reliant on public procurement, be allowed to donate £15m to any political party. It has largely gone unasked.

Meanwhile, the timing of this story has derailed the planned big announcement, namely the update to the government’s working definition of extremism.

Great to see Michael Gove pledge not to have anything to do with the British National Socialist Movement in future. But unless that particular hardcore neo-Nazi outfit is currently helping to draw up Department of Levelling Up guidelines on community integration – and with this lot, who knows? – I’m not sure how that differs from now.

What is clear that convictions the British National Socialist Movement would not find completely abhorrent are no bar to gifting the Conservative Party eight figure sums.

Sadly, detestation of Diane Abbott is a cross-party problem, as demonstrated by leaked WhatsApp messages from Labour staffers at a previous general election.

These were characterised by the Forde report as “expressions of visceral disgust” that draw, possibly consciously, on racist tropes. Good job these people were being paid to support Labour candidates, I guess.

The Hester affair was naturally the centre of debate at this week’s prime minister’s questions. Abbott attempted over 40 times to be allowed to speak. The Speaker’s unconscionable decision to ignore her was an insult not just to Abbott but to every one of the 56,864 people who voted in Hackney North at the last election. Our MP has a right to be heard.

Diane has described herself as “upset” by the Hester affair. No doubt a few consolatory mojitos are entirely in order. Big hug from everyone at Labour Hub.

Abbott, of course, is currently sitting as an independent Labour MP, after losing the whip for writing a letter to the Observer that argued Jews and Irish people were victims of prejudice rather than racism. That’s not an opinion I share.

But 11 months later, despite an apology far more fulsome than anything emanating from Hester, the Socialist Campaign Group stalwart remains without the whip. No reasonable investigation into the affair should have taken more than half an hour.

The working assumption among activists here in her constituency is that she isn’t going to get it back unless she agrees not to stand at the next general election, despite having been reselected by every single local branch and affiliated trade union.

Neither of the two main parties, nor the House of Commons itself, emerges from the tumult of the last few days with credit. The Labour leadership obviously don’t want to shoot Diane Abbott; but her leftwing politics are one reason they would be more than happy to see the back of her.

David Osland is a member of Hackney North & Stoke Newington CLP and a long-time leftwing journalist and author. He writes regularly for Labour Research magazine. Follow him on Twitter at @David__Osland.

Labour Hub update: Margaret Greenwood is the latest Labour MP to call for the whip to be restored to Diane Abbott. Martin Forde has described the “hypocrisy” of Labour’s stance on the racist abuse Diane Abbott has faced. And John McDonnell MP was  one of many speakers at today’s Stand up to Racism rally to call for the Labour whip to be restored to the Hackney MP.

Image; Stand up to Racism rally March 16th. c’o Labour Hub.