Kevin Schofield is Politics Editor of HuffPost UK.
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 11: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak talks with Ahmad Al Dubayan, Director General of the London Central Mosque during a visit to the Mosque on March 11, 2024 in London, England. In a statement issued this evening, a No.10 spokesman said: “The comments allegedly made by Frank Hester were racist and wrong.“He has now rightly apologised for the offence caused and where remorse is shown it should be accepted.
But pressure was piled on Sunak when business secretary Kemi Badenoch posted on X: “Hester’s 2019 comments, as reported, were racist. In his first public comments on the row, Hester said “racism ... is a poison that has no place in public life”. “We should celebrate those differences which have made us the world’s most successful multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy. And we should have the confidence to discuss our differences openly and even playfully without seeking to cause offence.”
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