Philip Davies and Anna Dixon lock horns over £10m donation

Anna Dixon, Labour's parliamentary candidate for Shipley, has written to Philip Davies, who has represented the constituency for the Tories since 2005, to seek assurances that he will not use funds given to the Conservative Party by Mr Hester.

Mr Hester, chief executive of Horsforth-based The Phoenix Partnership, is alleged to have said Diane Abbott, Britain's longest-serving black MP, made him "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot".

Mr Hester has admitted making "rude" comments, which were first reported by The Guardian, but said they had "nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Hester's alleged comments about Ms Abbott as "racist and wrong" - but he has refused to give back the declared £10 million Mr Hester donated to the Conservative Party in the past year.

In her letter to Mr Davies, Ms Dixon pointed to Mr Hester's alleged reference to shooting Ms Abbott and said the comments "fall well below the standard of behaviour the residents of Shipley constituency expect and no party should use funds donated by this man.

"While - in good faith - we assume that the Conservative Party was not aware of Mr Hester's views at the time of receiving these donations, it is only right that you and your party take these new revelations into account seriously. Rishi Sunak has refused to return the money. This now means it is your responsibility to refuse support from your party if it is funded by Frank Hester's money.

"Accepting and using that money can only be treated as implicitly condoning his deeply disturbing racist and misogynist comments. Will you take responsibility and turn down this support?"

Frank Hester

Mr Davies responded, telling the Telegraph & Argus: "It is a sad state of affairs if this is the most important priority Anna has for the Shipley constituency.

"It is a shame she is not spending her time writing to her Labour leader of Bradford Council instead about the bankruptcy that she has inflicted on local residents; or asking when her Council will develop the new swimming pool for Bingley which I have managed to persuade the Government to fund in full; or asking her Council when it will build the Shipley Eastern Bypass which I have managed to persuade the Government to fund in full.

"I will leave Anna to this rather desperate Westminster village political point scoring while I continue to deliver on real priorities for local residents despite the Labour Council in Bradford making that as difficult as possible."

Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe previously said the authority's perilous financial situation was down to a mix of rising costs of social care and cuts to Government funding for Councils.

Mr Davies added: "I should also add that this isn't even a letter penned by Anna. It is a Labour Party handout letter that they have asked candidates to send out, which doesn't bode well for Anna's independence of thought."

'Comments were frightening'

Ms Abbott described Mr Hester's reported remarks as "frightening", adding: "I am a single woman and that makes me vulnerable anyway.

"But to hear someone talking like this is worrying."

In a statement released via his firm, Mr Hester said he had phoned Ms Abbott to "apologise directly for the hurt he has caused her".

The statement said: "Frank Hester 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 Guardian is right when it quotes Frank saying he abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s.

"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."