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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Sammy Gecsoyler

Abbott criticises speaker over PMQs and asks Starmer to restore the whip – as it happened

Frank Hester Tory Kevin Hollinrake Diane Abbott

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden has joined calls for West Midlands mayor Andy Street to confirm whether he has benefited from donations made by Frank Hester to the Conservative party, after he said earlier today he would have personally returned the donations Hester has made to the party. (See 10.53am.) McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, said:

Now that Mr Street had said the Tories should return the £10m donated by Frank Hester, the question is whether any of this money has made it to Mr Street’s own campaign.

Our understanding is that over £2m for Mr Street’s campaign came via Conservative central office. You can’t have a situation where the mayor says the money should be returned and at the same time it’s paying for leaflets and digital advertising in the West Midlands.

That means it is important that the sources of Mr Street’s campaign finance are clarified now in order to show that none of the money came from Mr Hester, even indirectly.

Lib Dems says government should publish their contingency plan for possible collapse of Thames Water

The Liberal Democrats want the government to publish their contingency plan in case Thames Water gets taken into administration. After Rishi Sunak refused at PMQs to say he was sure the firm would still exist at the end of the year (see 12.30pm), the Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said:

The prime minister’s refusal to say if Thames Water will exist by the end of the year will reassure nobody they are not about to fall into special administration. The public therefore has a right to know what ministers plan to do should this happen.

This Conservative government’s continual refusal to make their contingency plan in the event of Thames Water’s collapse public is now clearly amounting to a cover up.

For too long, water companies have been allowed to get away with pumping raw sewage into our waterways whilst Conservative ministers have refused to take action. It is time they cracked down on these polluting giants and put an end to this disgusting practice.

Commons procedure committee snubs Hoyle's request for review of rules at centre of Gaza debate debacle

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, is not having a great day. As Kiran Stacey reports, he is facing strong criticism over his failure to call Diane Abbott at PMQs.

He has also today received a snub from the Commons procedure committee, in a matter relating to his decision last month to ignore the Commons procedural rulebook and to a vote on the Labour amendment to the SNP’s Gaza ceasefire motion.

At the time Hoyle said he was breaking with precedent because he wanted MPs “to consider the widest possible range of options”. He said the rule that would normally have blocked a vote on the Labour amendment, standing order 31, was “outdated” and he said he would ask the procedure committee to review it.

In a letter published today, Karen Bradley, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said that its members had considered Hoyle’s request and were turning him down. She said they had decided that they could not do an inquiry without “an in-depth examination” of the events surrounding the Gaza debate, and that that was beyond their remit.

She also implied the problems were caused by Hoyle’s decision “to break with precedent”. As far as the committee was concerned, standing order 31 was still valid, she said.

Updated

Why Diane Abbott didn't get called at PMQs

A reader asks:

The Speaker’s statement at 1415 – has anyone pointed out to the Speaker’s office that he managed to call 6 Tory MPs not on the order paper? Why if Abbott sits as an independent was she forced to wait he turn behind Labour MPs?

At PMQs, and during other question sessions, the speaker alternates between calling a government MP and an opposition MPs.

The order paper (see 11.58am) lists MPs who have won the right to ask a question in the ballot. If two government MPs follow each other on the list, the speaker won’t call one after the other, and will choose an opposition MP (not on the list) to fill the gap, so the government/opposition/government etc order does not get disrupted. Likewise if there are two opposition MPs on the list one after another.

Today, out of 15 MPs on the list, 11 of them were from opposition parties. That explains why the speaker called so many Tories not on the list.

There is also an understanding that, as Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey gets a question every six weeks or so. Today he got one. That took up another opposition slot.

Looking at the order paper, there were only two slots for opposition MPs not on the list: in the gap between Richard Graham and Will Quince, and in the gap between Quince and Miriam Cates. The first gap disappeared because Graham filled the gap between Keir Starmer and Stephen Flynn. Davey filled the second gap.

Also, they ran out of time. The speaker did not even reach the final names on the list.

So Sir Lindsay Hoyle has has good grounds for saying he could not called Diane Abbott. As speaker, of course, he can always bend the rules a little, and he could have allowed to session to over-run by 10 minutes or so to squeeze Abbott in at the end. John Bercow might have done that. But MPs don’t appreciate being held up when it’s time for lunch, and when Hoyle was elected speaker one of his pledges was to ensure PMQs finishes promptly.

Updated

Government to ban foreign governments from owning British newspapers, in move to halt UAE-backed bid for Telegraph

The UK government plans to introduce legislation that would prevent foreign governments owning UK newspapers and magazines in a move that could scupper the planned £600m sale of the Telegraph to a UAE-backed consortium, Jane Croft reports.

Updated

Hunt says plan to get rid of employees' national insurance 'will be work of many parliaments' and not like Liz Truss's tax cuts

Back at the Commons Treasury committee, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, said that it was wrong to compare his proposal to get rid of employees’ national insurance to Liz Truss’s unfunded tax cuts. He said the national insurance proposal was a long-term plan. “It will be the work of many parliaments,” he said. And it would only happen “when it’s affordable to do so”.

The Department for Business and Trade has published its Post Office (Horizon system) offences bill.

In a statement to MPs, Kevin Hollinrake, the postal services minister, said under the bill convictions of post office operators found guilty on the basis of Horizon evidence would be quashed “on the day that the new legislation is brought into force”, with the aim of it reaching the end of its journey through parliament by the summer recess.

Boris Johnson ‘largely absent’ early in Covid crisis, Welsh leader tells inquiry

Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has launched a scathing attack on the UK government’s handling of the Covid crisis but admitted his own administration should have taken “more stringent action” sooner as the pandemic swept the world. Steven Morris has the story.

Abbott says Hoyle was not serving Commons or democracy when he failed to let her ask question at PMQs

Diane Abbott has posted a message on X saying Sir Lindsay Hoyle was not serving the interests of the Commons or democracy by not calling her to ask a question today at PMQs.

I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving. But it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy.

She has also posted a message on X saying this tweet, from my colleague Owen Jones, is true.

Keir Starmer approached Diane Abbott, conversation overhead went like this:

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do”

“You could restore the whip”

“I understand just let me know if there’s anything..”

“Restore the whip”

“I understand”

Abbott is currently suspended from the parliamentary Labour party because of a letter she wrote to the Observer almost a year ago that suggested that antisemitism wasn’t as serious as the racism suffered by black people, and that it was more akin to prejudice.

Hunt claims getting rid of national insurance would not require cuts to NHS or pensions.

Back at the Treasury committee, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, insists that the Tories’ long-term commitment to get rid of employees’ national insurance could be achieved without cuts to the NHS or pensions. At PMQs today, Keir Starmer insisted that policy would require cuts like that. (See 1.28am.)

Hunt says when he announced the proposal, he was explicit about how it would be be funded by cuts to public services or borrowing.

No 10 says it delayed calling Hester's comments racist to allow time for 'proper right of reply'

Downing Street has defended its decision to wait until late yesterday to describe Frank Hester’s comments about Diane Abbott as racist on the grounds it wanted to give the businessman time for a proper right of reply.

At the post-PMQs lobby briefing, asked why it took so long to accept the comments were racist, the PM’s spokesperson said “it was right to give someone a proper right of reply” after “very serious allegations” were made.

No 10 only issued its updated statement after Hester himself issued a statement yesterday afternoon in which he did not deny saying the words attributed to him.

The PM’s spokesperson insisted today that Hester’s comments about Abbott remained “unverified” – even though Hester has not denied saying them. The spokesperson also declined to say whether No 10 has contacted Hester to ask him whether or not he made those comments.

The PM’s press secretary, who deals with party political matters, said the Conservatives would not be returning the £10m given by Hester because he has apologised – but would not comment on whether a future donation from him might be accepted.

Hunt says Hester's comments about Abbott 'despicable' - but says he does not deserve to be 'cancelled'

At the Treasury committee Labour’s Angela Eagle is asking the questions now.

Q: Were Frank Hester’s comments rude or racist?

Hunt says it was “a despicable comment that should not have been made”. He says Hester has apologised.

Q: He has only apologised for being rude. Should he apologise for being racist?

Hunt says Hester has apologised for his comment, which he says he believes was racist.

Q: If you were Tory treasurer, would you return the £10m?

Hunt says:

I don’t believe that someone should be cancelled for a comment they made in the past and for which they have apologised.

But that does not make the comments any less despicable and I don’t defend them.

Updated

Hunt says getting debt as proportion of GDP down to pre-pandemic levels will be 'long and difficult journey'

Q: Is it realistic to think that Britain will ever see a sustained reduction in debt as a proportion of GDP, taking it to pre-pandemic levels?

Hunt says it will be “a long and difficult journey”, but that “it’s right that we try”.

Hunt says Treasury did not leak news about 2p national insurance cut in budget

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has just started giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.

Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative chair, put it to him that he cannot have been happy to see the news that he was cutting national insurance by 2p in the pound in the papers beforehand.

Hunt said he was not happy about that. “It wasn’t an intentional leak,” he said.

But he said it was getting “very difficult” to stop leaks.

He said journalists would ring up the Treasury saying they would run a story about a budget measure unless it was explicitly denied. The Treasury does not like to reply, he said. So journalists take a gamble, he said.

He said some of the reports said a measure would be in the budget before the final decision had been taken.

Asked what budget measures had been pre-briefed by the Treasury, Hunt said none of the “principal measures” were leaked in advance.

Updated

Speaker's office defends Hoyle's decision not to call Diane Abbott at PMQs

A spokesperson for Sir Lindsay Hoyle has defended the speaker’s decision not to call Diane Abbott at PMQs. (See 12.46pm) The spokesperson said:

During prime minister’s questions, the speaker must select MPs from either side of the house on an alternating basis for fairness.

This takes place within a limited timeframe, with the chair prioritising members who are already listed on the order paper.

This week – as is often the case – there was not enough time to call all members who wanted to ask a question.

Scottish Tories urge UK party based in London to 'review' donations from Hester

The Scottish Conservative party has urged the UK party based in London to “review” its decision to take money from Frank Hester.

After the Scottish Labour party challenged the Scottish Tories to say if they had ever received money from Hester, a spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives said:

These comments were racist and wrong.

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.

PMQs - snap verdict

When something is indefensible, that means you cannot defend it. Frank Hester’s comments about Diane Abbott as reported in the Guardian are indefensible and so it is no surprise that Rishi Sunak got hammered by Keir Starmer today when the Labour leader brought the topic up. To be fair, Sunak would have been in even more trouble if he had not been willing to adopt the line that the remarks were racist. (See 11.16am.) But this was a day when a drubbing was inevitable, and so it panned out.

(The only fail-proof escape option would have been for Sunak and the Tories to have disowned Hester completely on Monday night, and returned his money. But this was never likely, partly because they have probably spent it already, but mainly because tactics like that would outrage and alarm almost the entire Tory donor community, some of whom may also have said things in private they would not want to read in the Guardian.)

Although the broad outline of PMQs was predictable, there were two features that were interesting, and that could have important repercussions for the general election campaign.

First, on the basis of today’s exchanges, it is probably safe to say we have reached the point where Jeremy Corbyn extremism arguments are unequivocally helping Starmer. Even when Boris Johnson was trying to discredit Starmer on the grounds that he campaigned to make Corbyn PM, it was a weak line because voters know that MPs will toe the party line in an election campaign without necessarily thinking their leader is wonderful, and it is obvious that Starmer isn’t a Corbynite leftie. But today, every time Rishi Sunak tried this line of attack, it only set Starmer up for an even more powerful response. We got two of them. Echoing Tony Blair’s line to John Major (“I lead my party, he follows his”), Starmer said:

The difference is, he’s scared of his party, I’ve changed my party.

And then, in his next response, he said:

The problem is that he’s describing a Labour party that no longer exists.

Like all the best political soundbites, these ones work because they are in essence true.

And, second, we may have seen the first clear evidence today that Jeremy Hunt’s decision in the budget to propose the eventual abolition of national insurance was a blunder. Today we saw this debated in the cut-and-thrust of PMQs, a particularly good testing ground for political messaging, and Sunak was trying to use the proposal as a means of laying down an election dividing line: Tories, committed to lower taxes over time, versus Labour, who aren’t.

But a tax cut worth £46bn is implausible, and Starmer’s question about whether this meant pension cuts or NHS cuts (see 2.11pm) was an inherently more persuasive proposition. Starmer’s ability to cite the £46bn figure also blunted Sunak’s point about Labour’s supposed commitment to an unfunded £28bn green energy plan (which hasn’t functioned well as a message anyway since Starmer said it was not happening).

Updated

Diane Abbott was trying to “catch the speaker’s eye” during PMQs. She was not on the list to ask a question, but the speaker, Sir Lindsay Houle, routinely takes questions from MPs who aren’t on the list, and a lot of commentators on X are criticising him for this.

These are from Adam Payne at PoliticsHome.

MPs look and sound confused by Lindsay Hoyle’s decision to not call Diane Abbott for a question

Abbott was visibly frustrated to not get a question. Starmer and Flynn went to speak to her after PMQs finished

Updated

When Lee Anderson defected to Reform UK on Monday, he said what persuaded him to join another party was George Galloway winning the Rochdale byelection. But now they are sitting alongside each other on the opposition benches.

Mark Francois (Con) asks Sunak to assure him that he is not making the same mistake made by Neville Chamberlain in the 1930s, when defence spending was restricted until it was too late.

Sunak tells Francois he agrees with the point he is making.

The world that we’re living in is becoming both more challenging, strategically, and more dangerous. And in response to those challenges. We must invest more in our armed forces.

And that’s the end of PMQs.

Rachael Maskell (Lab) asks about the situation in Gaza. The PM’s plan is not working. Will he change tack and push for a bilateral ceasefire?

Sunak says the government is incredibly concerned about the situation in Gaza. The UK is playing a leading role in providing aid, he says.

Natalie Elphicke (Con) asks about hold-ups at Dover. Is funding available to keep the port clear?

Sunak says this is being discussed at the highest level of government, with French and EU counterparts.

Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) asks if Sunak thinks Thames Water will still exist by the end of the year.

Sunak says it would not be right to comment on the financial situation of a company.

Sir Edward Leigh (Con) asks if Sunak agrees the Tories are the only party that will block mass and illegal migration.

Sunak agrees. He says Labour says it would block the Rwanda policy even if it were working.

Patrick Grady (SNP) says Tories call the European court of human rights foreign. But the UK has been part of it since it was set up, it has an Irish president, and a British judge on it. How is it foreign?

Sunak repeats his point about not letting a foreign court block flights to Rwanda.

Sunak says he won't return £15,000 donation from Frank Hester covering cost of helicopter flight

Marsha de Cordova (Lab) says last year Sunak accept a £15,000 non-cash donation from Frank Hester for the use of a helicopter. Will he reimburse that?

No, says Sunak. He says Hester is supporting a party with a diverse cabinet and the first British Asian PM.

Sir Christopher Chope (Con) asks Covid vaccine compensation.

Sunak says the government is looking at this issue.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru at Westminster, says the new play Nye celebrates the big increase in life expectancy that followed the creation of the NHS. But life expectancy is now falling, she says.

Sunak says the NHS in Wales has the worst record of any country in the UK.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns (Con) says, instead of paying migrants to go to Rwanda, the UK should leave the ECHR and “deport them for free”. Will the PM at least put this in the Tory manifesto?

Sunak says he will not let a foreign court block the UK’s ability to deport people to Rwanda.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks a reorganisation of cancer care for children services affecting his constituents, and other people in south-west London, Surrey and Sussex.

Sunak says these are operational decisions for the NHS.

Sunak says he hopes to pass the law exonerating post office operators before the summer recess. And compensation will be paid on the same basis to victims across the whole of the UK.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, says the Tories have taken money from someone who says an MP should be shot.

Sunak says the gentleman has apologised.

Flynn says he apologised for being rude. He goes on:

He wasn’t rude. He was racist. He was odious, and he was downright bloody dangerous.

He suggests the extremism that the government should address is in the Conservative party.

Sunak says Flynn should wait and see what the extremism statement says.

Updated

Starmer says this is like Liz Truss again. All we need is another lettuce, he says.

Sunak say pensions are going up by £900. The triple lock is going up. The government is investing in the NHS. And all Starmer has offered is a £28bn unfunded spending commitment, on energy.

So, under Labour, taxes are going up, he says.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

I did listen to the chancellor: £46 bn of unfunded commitments … They tried that under the last administration and everybody else is paying the price.

But two weeks ago the prime minister promised to crack down on those spreading hate, today he shrunk at the first challenge. Last week he promised fantasy tax cuts, now he is pretending it can all be paid for with no impact on pensions or the NHS.

All we need now is an especially hardy lettuce and it could be 2022 all over again. Is it any wonder that he is too scared to call an election when the public can see that the only way to protect their country, their pension, and their NHS from the madness of this Tory party is by voting Labour?

And Sunak replied:

All we have from him is a £28 billion unfunded promise. I had a look at it.

Producing a pamphlet from under his folder of notes and tapping it, Sunak added:

It is here, it is all here ‘making Britain a clean energy superpower’, he has still stuck to it and if you look through it carefully there is billions in spending he has already committed to Scotland, billions for Wales, there is actually money for North London too I noticed, but the problem is, none of it funded. So why doesn’t he come clean and tell them under his plans British people’s taxes are going up?

Updated

Starmer says Labour will not commit to Sunak’s £46bn unfunded tax cuts.

He says Sunak would have to cut NHS spending, or put up taxes to achieve his NICs policy.

Sunak says Starmer has admitted he is opposed to the Tories’ plan to cut national insurance.

Starmer says Sunak is describing a Labour party that no longer exists.

He says Sunak won’t comment on the fact that someone who got huge NHS contracts is now the Tories’ biggest donor.

National insurance contributions fund pensions and the NHS. Will the promise to get rid of NICs be funded by pension cuts or NHS cuts?

Sunak says he is glad the budget has come up, because the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury has said Labour won’t stick to Tory spending plans. He says Labour’s plans mean higher taxes for Britons.

Starmer says he has changed his party, while Sunak is scared of his.

He says Sunak invited himself into everyone’s living room to denounce extremism recently. But he was tongue-tied when Hester’s comments were reported. He suggests Hester’s donations were linked to the NHS contracts he received.

Sunak says he won’t take lectures from someone who backed Jeremy Corbyn, who he suggests backed extremists.

Starmer says Hester also said Abbott should be shot. How low would he have to stoop before Sunak handed back the money.

Sunak says the “gentleman” has apologised. And he says Angela Rayner talked about the Tories being scum, David Lammy compared them to Nazi, and John McDonnell talked about lynching a Tory MP.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

The man bankrolling the prime minister also said that the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington should be shot.

How low would he have to sink, what racist, woman-hating threat of violence would he have to make before the prime minister plucked up the courage to hand back the £10m that he’s taken from him?

And Sunak replied:

As I said, the gentleman apologised genuinely for his comments and that remorse should be accepted.

But he talks about language, he might want to reflect on the double standards of his deputy leader calling her opponents scum, his shadow foreign secretary comparing Conservatives to Nazis and the man that he wanted to make chancellor talking about lynching a female minister.

His silence on that speaks volumes.

Updated

Sunak resists calls to return Frank Hester’s cash despite saying Tory donor’s Diane Abbott comments were racist

Keir Starmer starts with a tribute to Tommy McAvoy, the former Labour whip who has died. And he praises Theresa May for serving the Commons “with a real sense of duty”.

Is the PM proud to be bankrolled by someone saying Diane Abbottt “makes you want to hate all black woman”.

Sunak says these comments were wrong and racist, and Frank Hester has expressed remorse.

UPDATE: Starmer said:

Is the prime minister proud to be bankrolled by someone using racist and misogynistic language when he says the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington [Diane Abbott] ‘makes you want to hate all black women?’

And Sunak replied:

The alleged comments were wrong, they were racist, he has rightly apologised for them and that remorse should be accepted.

There is no place for racism in Britain, and the government I lead is living proof of that.

Updated

Tobias Ellwood (Con) asks Sunak to back a plan for an award to recognise NHS service.

Sunak says the honours system recognises NHS staff, and many NHS organisations have their own award systems. But Ellwood will get a ministerial meeting to discuss this further.

Afzal Khan (Lab) says despite much criticism from experts, the govenrment is going to widen the definition of extremism. He says Tory Mps have been peddling conspirary theories on this. Will Sunak instead get his own house in order, and accept the agreed definition of Islamophobia.

Sunak urges Khan to wait for the plan. He says extremism must be tackled. And, on conspiracy theories, he says Khan should consider Labour’s candidate in Rochdale.

Updated

Rishi Sunak starts by saying the Post Office IT scandal is one of the greatest miscarriage of justice scandals in UK history. Legislation to address this is being published today.

After PMQs there is an urgent question and a statement.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs

Rishi Sunak will be taking PMQs at 12pm. With Lee Anderson defecting to Reform UK on Monday, the row about Frank Hester dominating the news yesterday and today, and both stories leading to allegations about Sunak being over tolerant of racism, it is likely to be an even more rowdy session than usual.

Labour says Home Office proposal to pay failed asylum seekers to go to Rwanda shows current plan won't work

People whose application for asylum gets turned down will be offered thousands of pounds to encourage them to move to Rwanda under a new voluntary scheme drawn up by ministers, Aubrey Allegretti and Matt Dathan are reporting in the Times.

In their story Allegretti and Dathan report:

The new agreement is designed to remove tens of thousands of migrants who have no right to stay in the UK but cannot be returned to their home country.

Under plans backed by No 10, migrants could instead opt to be sent to Rwanda, which the UK government deems a safe third country.

It will utilise the existing structures under the scheme agreed with Rwanda, which has been stalled by legal challenges since it was announced in April 2022 …

Under the voluntary returns schemes, [failed asylum seekers] can currently receive financial assistance worth up to £3,000 to return to their “country of origin”.

However, the new Rwanda deal is the first of its kind because it would mark the first time migrants were paid to leave the UK without going back to their country of origin.

The Home Office told the Times it was “exploring voluntary relocations for those who have no right to be here to Rwanda”. It stressed that this was in addition to the provisions in the Rwanda bill that is intended to allow people arriving in the UK on small boats to be forcibly removed to Rwanda.

But Labour said the new plan was an admission that the current Rwanda policy won’t work. Commenting on the Times story, Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, said:

Even government ministers are finally recognising that their Rwanda scheme has no chance of succeeding, so they’re resorting to paying people to go there instead.

We know from the treaty that capacity in Rwanda is very limited, so ministers should now explain what this new idea means for the scheme as it was originally conceived, and they should also make clear how many people they expect to send on this basis, and what the cost will be.

There have been so many confused briefings around the Rwanda policy that the public will be forgiven for treating this latest wheeze with a degree of scepticism.

Updated

A reader asks:

What news on yesterday’s Rwanda debate in the Lords ? More defeats ?

The safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill passed its third reading in the Lords last night. You can read the Hansard here. There was no vote. Peers did vote on the bill as a whole at second reading (unusually – normally they just nod it through) but a Lib Dem attempt to block the bill was defeated by 206 votes to 84.

Opposition peers outnumber the Tories, but mostly they take the view that it is their job to amend legislation, not to block bills passed by the Commons. This is also the Labour party’s view.

The bill will now go back to the Commons early next week with 10 amendments passed by the Lords. MPs will vote to take them out. A brief “ping pong” is expected, when the bill shuttles back and forth, but ultimately the Lords will back down and it is likely the bill will become law next week with all, or at least most, of the Lords amendments removed.

Zero tolerance of racism should be more than slogan, says business minister Nusrat Ghani

Nusrat Ghani, a business minister, has posted a message on X this morning saying zero tolerance of racism should be more than a slogan.

Zero tolerance on racism is just a slogan in todays politics.
Am reminded of Toni Morrison’s quote
‘The people who do this thing, who practice racism, are bereft.
That is something distorted about the psyche. It’s a huge waste and it’s a corruption and a distortion’

Ghani does not mention the Frank Hester controversy in her post, but it is not hard to spot that this might just be a reference to the way No 10 spent most of yesterday trying to avoid saying that Hester’s comments about Diane Abbott as reported in the Guardian were racist.

Downing Street probably won’t like this much. But at least Ghani knows that her departmental boss, Kemi Badenoch, will be on her side. Late yesterday afternoon Badenoch posted her own messages on X saying the remarks as reported were racist, and it appears that her intervention prompted No 10 to get off the fence and put out its own statement later saying the comments “allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong”. This is not the first time Badenoch has taken the lead on a story of the day only for Rishi Sunak to weigh in behind.

Hester has issued a statement saying he accepts he was “rude” about Abbott in a private meeting, but that “his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

Hopes of UK exit from recession boosted as GDP rises in January

The chances of the UK quickly emerging from recession have been boosted by the release of figures showing the economy grew by 0.2% in January, Larry Elliott reports.

Labour MP challenges Street to say if he indirectly received funding from Hester and, if so, if he will return it

Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, has said he would not take money from Frank Hester. (See 10.40am.) But he is facing calls to clarify whether he has benefitted from Hester’s money, as the mayor has received over £300,000 in monthly donations from the Conservative party in recent years.

Labour MP Paulette Hamilton, Birmingham’s first black MP, has written to Street asking him to clarify whether he has benefited “directly or indirectly”.

Hamilton said:

I am sure you can understand that words can’t describe how I feel about the awful, racist remarks made by Mr Hester about Diane Aboott MP.

In recent months and years you have received regular monthly donations from the Conservative party, likely to have totalled millions of pounds. It is therefore possible that you have benefitted from monthly money received by the Conservative party’s largest ever donor, Frank Hester.

Hamilton said that while Street may have received the donations “in good faith”, now that he is aware of Hester’s remarks, “anything less than returning these donations would be a damning indictment of you and your party”.

She also asked Street if he would be “making representations to his party to request the donations are returned”.

Hester has issued a statement saying he accepts he was “rude” about Abbott in a private meeting, but that “his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

Updated

Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street says he would 'think about company I kept' and not take money from Hester

Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, has said that he personally would return a £10m donation from Frank Hester. Asked if the party should return the money, he told the Today programme:

I would think about the company I kept and I would give that money back.

I have to give you my view, rather than what the party should do, but I’ve thought about how I would handle that situation.

Minister says Tories would be willing to accept more donations from Hester 'on basis we don't think he's racist'

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up from Sammy Gecsoyler.

Kevin Hollinrake, the postal services minister, did not just say that he did not think the Tories would be returning the £10m they have received from Frank Hester in his interviews this morning. (See 8.48am.) In an interview with BBC Breakfast, he even suggested that the party might take more money from Hester.

As PA Media reports, asked on whether the Conservatives would take another £10 million from Hester, Hollinrake said:

On the basis that we don’t think Mr Hester is a racist, yes.

Asked to clarify that the Tories would accept further money from the businessman, the minister said: “As I now understand the situation, yes.”

Hollinrake was on the media round because today the government is publishing the legislation to exonerate post office operators who were wrongly jailed as a result of the Horizon IT scandal. Eleni Courea has a preview here.

I’m afraid we are having to keep the comments off for the moment. That is because the Guardian is legally liable for what gets published in the comments section and, as soon as our original Frank Hester story was published, we started getting a tonne of comments that, unlike the Guardian report, had not been libel-proofed by lawyers. The moderators remove problematic posts, but they don’t have the capacity to do this when dozens of difficult comments are going up minute by minute, and so to avoid risk we have to close comments down.

We will get them back up when we can. In the meantime, I have opened the ‘send us a message’ function.

Archbishops of Canterbury and York warn new extremism definition could cause more 'division'

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have released a joint statement warning that Michael Gove’s new defintion of extremism could cause further “division” and threaten the country’s “rich diversity”.

Gove is set to unveil the government’s new definition of extremism on Thursday and use parliamentary privilege to name groups that he says fall foul of this new definition, despite pushback from government lawyers who have warned about the legal implications of doing so.

The move comes after Rishi Sunak said in a speech outside No 10 earlier this month that there had been “a shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality” since 7 October, in comments seen as a thinly veiled attack on pro-Palestine demonstrations. Gove previously told the Sunday Telegraph that “good-hearted people” who have taken part in marches should be aware they could be “lending credence” to extremists.

In a joint statement, the Most Reverend Justin Welby and the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell said the “growing division between different communities in this country” is a threat to the country’s “rich diversity”.

They said:

How our leaders respond to this is far too important for a new definition of extremism to be its cure.

Instead of providing clarity or striking a conciliatory tone, we think labelling a multi-faceted problem as hateful extremism may instead vilify the wrong people and risk yet more division.

The new definition being proposed not only inadvertently threatens freedom of speech, but also the right to worship and peaceful protest - things that have been hard won and form the fabric of a civilised society.

Crucially, it risks disproportionately targeting Muslim communities, who are already experiencing rising levels of hate and abuse.

We are concerned - like so many others - by its implications for public life.

We join calls for the government to reconsider its approach and instead have a broad-based conversation with all those who it will affect.

The UK has a proud history of welcoming people from all walks of life and celebrating diversity. We are a community of communities.

Our leaders should cherish and promote that - and pursue policies that bring us together, not risk driving us apart.

Updated

Outside parliament, Greenpeace UK activists have erected a mock cemetery with hundreds of headstone representing those who have died due to damp, cold homes and are urging the government to invest £6bn a year to make homes warmer, improve health, cut bills and tackle climate change.

The group estimates that more than 70,000 excess winter deaths in the UK were linked to living in cold, damp housing conditions in the decade since the coalition government slashed support for home insulation measures.

In a protest at what it described as the “needless and shocking” deaths from living in cold homes, the green group installed headstones made from insulation boards in Victoria Tower Gardens and an eight-metre-long funeral wreath reading “cold homes cost lives”.

It is calling for a national retrofit insulation programme funded to the tune of £6bn a year to tackle the health crisis and make homes warmer, more efficient and cheaper to heat. Campaigners are also urging Labour to reinstate its pledge to spend £6bn a year on energy efficiency, which was significantly scaled back in its recent U-turn on spending £28bn a year on green measures.

Updated

Labour says it is 'absolutely staggering' how long it took No 10 to say Hester's comments racist

Labour’s shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said he found it “absolutely astonishing” that the Conservative party “won’t pay this £10m back” that was donated by Frank Hester last year.

Asked on Sky News about the length of time it took Downing Street to brand Hester’s reported remarks about Diane Abbott as racist, Ashworth said:

I thought it was absolutely staggering. It took Rishi Sunak 24 hours to condemn these racist, reprehensible comments about Diane Abbott.

I think that shows how weak Rishi Sunak is. You will remember a couple of weeks ago it took him a while to take on, now the Reform MP, Lee Anderson for Islamophobic comments. He should have been out there condemning these comments immediately.

But, fundamentally, he has taken £10m from this individual. Every Tory MP and candidate handing out leaflets, paying for Facebook advertising – it is funded by this £10m from this individual who has made these deeply racist, offensive comments.

If Rishi Sunak had anything about him, if he had any backbone, he would pay that money back today.

But, actually, you have had a Conservative minister on the BBC just a few moments ago saying they would take another £10m from this individual. I think that just shows you how weak and how desperate the Tory party have become under Rishi Sunak.

A statement from the healthcare technology firm the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), which Hester runs, said he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

Updated

Today looks set to be a busy one in Westminster. Hester’s comments are likely to be a focal point at prime ministers questions, which begins at noon.

Later in the Commons, the government’s plans to reduce national insurance rates will be debated and Tory MP Kate Kniveton – who went through the family courts to block her ex-husband former MP Andrew Griffiths from seeing their child after he was found by a judge to be abusive – has the adjournment debate on child custody arrangements.

Elsewhere, business Secretary Kemi Badenoch will be welcoming Texas Governor Greg Abbott to No 10 at lunchtime to sign a trade pact with the state, the eighth such deal with an individual US state. It looks set to include provisions on carbon capture and life sciences. Both politicians will be speaking to the media at 12:45pm.

Liz Kendall, the shadow work and pensions secretary, will be speaking at the TUC pensions conference at 10am, where she’ll say “if Labour made a commitment 100 times smaller than this we would rightly be asked to spell out – where is the money coming from?”

Defence secretary Grant Shapps is on a two-day visit to Poland and Norway vising UK forces taking part in Nato exercises.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) released a report today which said the UK’s plans for adapting to the effects of the climate crisis “fall far short” of what is required and that the government had no credible plan for making the country resilient to the increasing effects of extreme weather.

Minister: returning Hester donations 'not right thing to do'

Good morning. Sammy Gecsoyler on the blog here until 10am GMT.

The fallout from comments made by top Tory donor Frank Hester, who said looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, continues.

On Tuesday night, No 10 called the comments “racist and wrong” after mounting pressure. Earlier in the day, government ministers had suggested Hester’s comments were not related to Abbott’s race and gender.

The party have faced calls, including from Labour, to return a £10m donation Hester made to the Conservative party last year.

On Wednesday morning, a government minister suggested the party would not return the money.

Asked on Sky News whether the Tories should give back Hester’s money, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said:

I don’t think that is the right thing to do …

I think his comments were clearly racist and wrong, there is no question about that. You don’t judge somebody’s character based on their skin colour.

He has apologised for that. I don’t think that means Frank Hester is necessarily a racist.

Asked whether he would be comfortable spending Hester’s donations, Hollinrake said: “On the basis he is not a racist, has apologised for what he said, yes.”

After the publication of the donor’s remarks, a statement from the healthcare technology firm the Phoenix Partnership (TPP), which Hester runs, said he “accepts that he was rude about Diane Abbott in a private meeting several years ago but his criticism had nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.

The statement said Hester “abhorred” racism, “not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”.

The statement added: “He rang Diane Abbott twice today to try to apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her, and is deeply sorry for his remarks. He wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison, which has no place in public life.”

TPP’s lawyers have previously said the comments were not a true or accurate characterisation of the company or Hester.

Updated

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