Hateful Hester
New data from the Electoral
Commission revealed that the Conservative Party accepted a further £5 million from
Frank Hester in January, and then a further £150,000 in mid-March.
It’s important to note that the second donation was accepted by the
Party three days after the Guardian exposed Hester for his
misogynistic, racist and dangerous remarks that Diane Abott “should be
shot” and that looking at her made him “want to hate all black women”.
The paper has since spoken to former employees who allege that Hester also referred to a staff member as the “token
Muslim”, imitated people of Chinese descent and remarked that one
individual was attractive for a black woman. The Conservative Party
does not intend to give the donations back.
Allied anniversary
The Prime Minister and Labour
leader were both in France alongside the King and French and US
Presidents to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy
landings of WW2.
Veteran’s votes
To mark the anniversary,
the Tories promised a “veterans’ bill” in the first King’s
Speech after the Election, a cut to the cost of veterans’ railcards,
and a change to the law to allow veterans’ ID cards to be used as
voter ID. Whether these token gestures are enough to make people
forget that veteran homelessness rose by 14% between 2022 and 2023 remains to be
seen.
What about the youth?
With news of yet more promises for
pensioners, young people are wondering what the Tories have to offer
them…other than obligatory national service…of course. Our CEO Naomi
Smith discussed this on Politics Live, alongside Ed Vaizey,
Seema Malhotra, and Claire
Fox.
Other offerings
The Lib Dems said they would give all cancer patients a “legal right” to access
cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, while the Green
Party said it would put another £50bn a year into the NHS and “fight
privatisation” by hiking taxes on the rich.
Europoll
Yesterday polls opened for the
European Parliament elections, and will stay open for the next three
days. Far-right groups are predicted to make significant gains in
France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and elsewhere.
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