The company run by the Tory donor Frank Hester, whose remarks about Diane Abbott have been widely condemned as racist, paid a Conservative peer £148,000 to act as a trade envoy, the Guardian can reveal, as evidence of his links to the party deepen.
Zahida Manzoor, a former deputy chair of the Commission for Racial Equality in the 1990s who went on to be a Lords whip under Theresa May’s government, took on the part-time role as chair of a Middle East advisory council for Hester’s health tech TPP in September 2016.
The £12,300-a-month role, which ended in September 2017, shows that Hester’s ties to the Conservatives go back longer than previously thought.
Lady Manzoor confirmed the role at the Phoenix Partnership (TPP) and pointed out that it was declared in the register of members’ interests at the time. She joined the widespread condemnation of the Hester’s remarks last week, and told the Guardian she did not witness any racism when working for TPP.
Hester has donated £10m to the party in the last year, in two £5m tranches in May and November, and is reported to have donated a further £5m, which has yet to be declared. The Guardian also revealed that Rishi Sunak was flown to Leeds by Hester for a private tour of TPP’s offices last November.
When she took on the role, Manzoor was an not affiliated to a party after resigning the Liberal Democrat whip over Brexit. In October 2016, three weeks after taking the role with TPP, she announced that she had joined the Conservatives.
Manzoor left TPP in June 2017. She said: “The contract was ended by mutual agreement as the business decided to focus on China rather than the Middle East … This was purely a commercial decision.”
She did not deny the sums involved. “My remuneration is a contractual matter as agreed between TPP and myself,” she said.
Asked to comment on Hester’s remarks about Abbott, she said: “That type of language is totally inappropriate and unacceptable in any circumstance. No forms of racism or discrimination should be condoned or tolerated. However, during my short time with TPP, I never heard any comments of this nature and certainly nothing was said to me or in my presence by Mr Hester or anyone else at TPP.”
TPP has received more than £400m in contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016. It also manages the software for more than 60m patient records across the UK.
Last week the BMA’s general practice committee urged Hester to resign from TPP and noted that his remarks “contravened NHS England’s fit and proper person test”.
Asked if TPP should be given any further NHS contracts, Manzoor, who is also a former regional chair of NHS, said: “Procurement of IT/patient administration systems are a matter for GPs, NHS health boards and NHS England.
“Clearly, it’s important the fit and proper test should be applied when contracts are awarded. I would suggest this test is re-evaluated periodically – particularly when contracts are up for renewal or if new information comes to light.
“Any donations to the Conservative party are a matter for the party itself.”
TPP has been approached for comment.
