As the first minister sent to defend Frank Hester after the Guardian revealed his comments about Diane Abbott, Graham Stuart could not hide his unease.
“Clearly, it’s uncomfortable, I’m uncomfortable talking about this now, because he was clearly wrong,” the energy minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning. “But we need to show understanding – and the important thing was, he did apologise.”
By that evening, however, in scenes that reminded some Conservative MPs of the way Boris Johnson operated, the government line had changed. No 10, which had declined all day to say the remarks by their biggest donor were racist, put out a statement calling them “racist and wrong”.
The rapid volte-face has renewed questions about Sunak’s political nous and his leadership of the Conservative party. Coming after a budget that spent £15bn on tax cuts but failed to win the party any extra support in the polls, some Tory MPs are as desolate as they have been at any point during this parliament.
“The mood is even bleaker than normal,” said one. “Not only the Hester row, but the budget is regarded as a damp squib and we are not making enough progress with issues such as Rwanda.”
One former minister added: “They appear not to be very good at politics. They keep sending ministers out with lines that are obviously unsustainable and it is driving the ministers nuts.”
When the Guardian first revealed on Monday afternoon that Hester had said looking at the MP Diane Abbott made you “want to hate all black women”, the Conservative response stuck closely to Hester’s own.
“Mr Hester has made clear that while he was rude, his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor the colour of her skin,” a spokesperson said. “He has since apologised.”
That evening, Sunak briefly met Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, whose job it is to collect letters of no confidence in the prime minister. The meeting raised eyebrows on the Tory benches given Sunak’s political difficulties – though his aides insisted the conversation was routine.
The following morning, Stuart was sent out to defend the Tories’ decision to stick by their donor, and to resist calls to hand back the £10m he has donated.
At briefings with reporters in the morning and the afternoon, Downing Street stuck strictly to that line. Hester’s comments had been “unacceptable”, according to a spokesperson, but not racist.
Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, was the next senior minister sent out to deliver the message. The remarks had been “inappropriate”, Stride said, but they were not “gender-based or race-based”. Stride added: “He has apologised and I think we need to move on from that.”
Others, however, were not ready to move on. As the afternoon wore on, Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister and the highest-profile black woman on the Tory benches, spoke out. “Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist,” she tweeted. “I welcome his apology.”
Two and a half hours later, the Downing Street line had changed too. No 10 now did believe the comments were racist, a spokesperson clarified – but the party was still not going to give back the money.
Downing Street insisted on Wednesday that the change of tack had not been triggered either by Badenoch’s tweet or the impending session of prime minister’s questions. Rather, the delay in condemning the comments had come because they were “unverified” at first, and the shift came after Hester issued a second statement failing to deny them.
“He didn’t deny the comments, although he has rightly apologised,” Sunak’s spokesperson said. “And in light of this, we were clear, and the prime minister is clear in the house today, that the comments were racist and wrong.”
Jeremy Hunt also said the comments made by Hester were “racist” and “despicable” in a Commons Treasury committee on Wednesday when pressed by Labour MP Angela Eagle.
If the prime minister hoped the new stance would close down the controversy, however, he was quickly proved wrong.
Even as his officials gave their customary post-PMQs briefing to journalists, the Scottish Conservatives issued a statement saying: “The Scottish Conservative party has never accepted a donation from Frank Hester and the UK Conservative party should carefully review the donations it has received from Hester in response to his remarks.”
Other senior Tories – including the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, the former party chair Chris Patten and the former minister Alistair Burt – are also calling for the party to hand back Hester’s donations, or to give them to charity.
The question some current ministers are now asking themselves is whether they will spend the next few days publicly insisting the money should remain with the party, only to see Sunak eventually reverse that position.
