Frank Hester's Racist Comments About Diane Abbott

[hackey lad]

39 minutes ago, peak4 said:

 

Or maybe he hasn't
‘No room for the Indians?’: Tory donor Frank Hester suggested staff climb on train roof Guardian (and elsewhere)

The Conservative party’s biggest donor asked if there was “no room for the Indians” and suggested staff climb on a train roof during a crowded meeting, before saying he made “a lot of jokes about racism”.

 As revealed by the Guardian on Monday, he called a meeting of his “foreign” workers to address allegations of racism made by former employees in 2019.

Addressing a number of staff members on a crowded balcony for the meeting at the TPP headquarters, overlooking the railway line in Horsforth, Leeds, Hester asked if there was “no room for the Indians, then?”

He then said: “Climb on the roof, like on the roof of the train there maybe?”

Hester also spoke of a forthcoming work trip, saying: “I’m looking forward to going to Malaysia, so that I can make new jokes – I don’t know any jokes about Malaysian people but I’m sure we’ll find them.

I’m sure we’ll find them. There have got to be some, haven’t there?”

However, he also said “we take the **** out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner”.

 

Clearly it wasn't just about Abbott was it? 

Is it acceptable to try and get an executive from a different company dismissed, and discussing her in this manner in a professional meeting? 

Read TPP company reviews on GlassDoor; I can't quote them now, as I'm struggling with my access at the moment

 

“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.

“[The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot. She’s stupid …

If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It’s not as good as her dying.

It would be much better if she died.

She’s consuming resource.

She’s eating food that other people could eat. You know?”

 

Now I'd agree that Labour, amongst others, have have cynically used Abbott as a pawn in their justified complaints against Hester, but there's more to it than just her, as illustrated above.
Labour's treatment of Abbott is far from acceptable as well, particularly when you look back a while and consider the content of the Forde report, which seems to be getting little coverage.
Lots of folk saying Hester (and Marshall) have apologised, so that should be the end of it;

Abbott also apologised for the letter which got her suspended, but those same folk are not suggesting she should be reinstated to the parliamentary party.

 

 Gary Younge wrote a decent article on the broader subject a couple of days ago

In Britain’s degraded politics, fighting racism has become a cynical game The Guardian & well worth reading, regardless of your political affiliations.

This goes far beyond a Tory donor’s racist comments about Diane Abbott, and Labour’s opportunistic response

 

 

I read somewhere that Abbot could be reinstated but she has to go on an Anti Semitism awareness course first . She refuses.

[Al Bundy]

45 minutes ago, peak4 said:

 

Or maybe he hasn't
‘No room for the Indians?’: Tory donor Frank Hester suggested staff climb on train roof Guardian (and elsewhere)

The Conservative party’s biggest donor asked if there was “no room for the Indians” and suggested staff climb on a train roof during a crowded meeting, before saying he made “a lot of jokes about racism”.

 As revealed by the Guardian on Monday, he called a meeting of his “foreign” workers to address allegations of racism made by former employees in 2019.

Addressing a number of staff members on a crowded balcony for the meeting at the TPP headquarters, overlooking the railway line in Horsforth, Leeds, Hester asked if there was “no room for the Indians, then?”

He then said: “Climb on the roof, like on the roof of the train there maybe?”

Hester also spoke of a forthcoming work trip, saying: “I’m looking forward to going to Malaysia, so that I can make new jokes – I don’t know any jokes about Malaysian people but I’m sure we’ll find them.

I’m sure we’ll find them. There have got to be some, haven’t there?”

However, he also said “we take the **** out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner”.

 

Clearly it wasn't just about Abbott was it? 

Is it acceptable to try and get an executive from a different company dismissed, and discussing her in this manner in a professional meeting? 

Read TPP company reviews on GlassDoor; I can't quote them now, as I'm struggling with my access at the moment

 

“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.

“[The executive] and Diane Abbott need to be shot. She’s stupid …

If we can get [the executive] being unprofessional we can get her sacked. It’s not as good as her dying.

It would be much better if she died.

She’s consuming resource.

She’s eating food that other people could eat. You know?”

 

Now I'd agree that Labour, amongst others, have have cynically used Abbott as a pawn in their justified complaints against Hester, but there's more to it than just her, as illustrated above.
Labour's treatment of Abbott is far from acceptable as well, particularly when you look back a while and consider the content of the Forde report, which seems to be getting little coverage.
Lots of folk saying Hester (and Marshall) have apologised, so that should be the end of it;

Abbott also apologised for the letter which got her suspended, but those same folk are not suggesting she should be reinstated to the parliamentary party.

 

 Gary Younge wrote a decent article on the broader subject a couple of days ago

In Britain’s degraded politics, fighting racism has become a cynical game The Guardian & well worth reading, regardless of your political affiliations.

This goes far beyond a Tory donor’s racist comments about Diane Abbott, and Labour’s opportunistic response

 

 

Yo would get more kudos if you didn't just link stories from left wing sanctmonious rags.

 

Edited March 16 by Al Bundy

[Axe]

6 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

I read somewhere that Abbot could be reinstated but she has to go on an Anti Semitism awareness course first . She refuses.

Keir Starmer should make the decision based on his own judgement rather than passing the buck. The whole saga has gone on too long.  

[PRESLEY]

Just now, Axe said:

Keir Starmer should make the decision based on his own judgement rather than passing the buck. The whole saga has gone on too long.  

Same as the Tory Party. 

[The_DADDY]

10 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

I read somewhere that Abbot could be reinstated but she has to go on an Anti Semitism awareness course first . She refuses.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-labour-whip-antisemitism-starmer-b2513315.html

[peak4]

12 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

I read somewhere that Abbot could be reinstated but she has to go on an Anti Semitism awareness course first . She refuses.

Inevitably, there seems to be a bit more to it, though I've no idea what
One source was The Indy
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-labour-whip-antisemitism-starmer-b2513315.html

But she's quoted in that artice;

“And that is why this has been going on for 10 months and not 25 minutes,” a shadow minister told The Independent. Another MP on the left of the party added: “I don’t know why she didn’t just do it.”

Ms Abbott said “key aspects” of what The Independent was told were wrong, but did not offer any more detail: “I cannot disclose details of this process because, under Labour rules, that would be another disciplinary offence.”

She also repeated a claim she has made previously that the Labour investigation is “fraudulent”.

 

 

[hackey lad]

8 minutes ago, The_DADDY said:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/diane-abbott-labour-whip-antisemitism-starmer-b2513315.html

Thank you 

[The_DADDY]

Just now, hackey lad said:

Thank you 

You're welcome 👍 

[peak4]

29 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

Yo would get more kudos if you didn't just link stories from left wing sanctmonious rags.

 

I'm not getting involved in the usual tit for tat/personal arguments on here, preferring to deal with the actual content of the posts and the title of the thread.
I regularly quote from a variety of sources, but in this case The Grauniad is the pertinent one as it broke the story, rightly or wrongly.
Most other sources are just quoting the Grauniad for the actual details, as opposed to discussion about them.
The Gary Younge article, along with its embedded links is well worth reading with an open mind.

.

[SheffieldForum]

Well, this thread has inevitably derailed.

 

Keep to the topic, please!