The biggest donor to Britain's governing Conservative Party told colleagues that looking at the country's longest-serving Black lawmaker made him "want to hate all Black women", and that she "should be shot", the Guardian newspaper reported.
Frank Hester has given 10 million pounds ($12.8 million) to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party in the last year, and the publication of his comments from 2019 prompted the opposition Labour Party to urge the Conservatives to return the donation.
Hester was quoted by the Guardian as commenting on Diane Abbott, who became the first Black woman to be elected to parliament when she won a seat in 1987.
"It's like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you're just like, I hate, you just want to hate all Black women because she's there, and I don't hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot," he was quoted as saying.
He tweeted a statement in response, saying: "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."
He said he abhorred racism and had tried to apologise to Abbott.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: "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. He has since apologised."
The comments are likely to revive scrutiny of the Conservative Party and how it handles allegations of racism.
Its former chairman, Lee Anderson, was suspended after he refused to apologise for saying London's first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, was under the control of Islamists.
Senior Conservative lawmakers said Anderson's comments were wrong but declined to say why, or whether they were Islamophobic.
Graham Stuart, a minister in Sunak's government, was asked by reporters about Hester's comments on Tuesday morning. He said they were unacceptable but refused to call them racist, telling Times Radio he did not like to "sit in judgment".
He said the party noted that Hester had said the comments made "half a decade ago" were not racist, and he told Sky News the party could not "cancel" people based on previous remarks.
Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Party, said it was vital that the party returns the donation.
"Rishi Sunak has claimed that 'words matter' and he must know that holding on to that money would suggest the Conservatives condone these disturbing comments," she said in a statement. "Sunak must return every penny."
($1 = 0.7825 pounds)
