Shajil KumarBy: Shajil Kumar
Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf hit out at the Conservative Party for being “institutionally Islamophobic”, according to media reports.
He said this in reaction to the comments reportedly made by Conservative party donor Frank Hester (57) about Labour MP Diane Abbott.
According to The Guardian newspaper, Hester had reportedly said in 2019 that Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and “she should be shot”.
Hester, who heads a software company The Phoenix Partnership, said this during a meeting at his company’s headquarters.
Yousaf said the comments from Hester are racist, sexist, and incite hatred.
He said, “The Conservative Party is not just riddled with Islamophobia, but institutionally Islamophobic.”
Yousaf said if the Conservative Party had any morals they ought to have returned every single penny to Hester.
The software entrepreneur has donated more than £10 million to the Tories and paid £15,000 for Sunak to take a helicopter trip late last year.
Hester has admitted making “rude” comments about Abbott, but claimed that they had “nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin”.
Sunak had termed Hester’s comments ‘racist’ but added that since he has apologised it should be accepted.
Referring to Lee Anderson’s recent controversial remark on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the Scottish first minister lamented that nobody in the Conservative party called him Islamophobic.
Yousaf also wondered how Suella Baverman is allowed to get away with her controversial remarks.
