West Yorkshire Police has launched an investigation into racist comments allegedly made by TPP director Frank Hester at a meeting in 2019.
According to the Guardian, Mr Hester told a TPP company meeting that Hackney MP Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’ and that she ‘should be shot’.
The police force said the investigation had been passed on by the Metropolitan Police due to the meeting having taken place in its jurisdiction.
It was the ‘first time’ the comments had been brought to its attention, it added.
A statement from West Yorkshire Police, published today, said: ‘We are investigating racist comments which were allegedly made at a meeting in Leeds in 2019.
‘On Monday 11 March 2024, The Metropolitan Police Service’s Parliamentary and Investigation Team was contacted in relation to a report about an MP that appeared in the Guardian, which outlined the alleged remarks. This is the first time the comments had been brought to the attention of police.
‘The investigation was subsequently passed to West Yorkshire due to the meeting having taken place in Horsforth.
‘Our officers have since been working to establish the facts and to ultimately ascertain whether a crime has been committed.
‘We recognise the strong reaction to these allegations and appreciate everyone who has contacted us since the article was published.’
As the police force continues its inquiry it is ‘keen to hear from anyone who could directly assist our investigation’, it added.
‘Any information can be reported through 101 or via our website, using reference number 13240137018, or you can quote “Operation Brassminster’”.’
The BMA’s GP Committee for England last week said it was ‘disgusted’ by reported ‘openly racist’ comments and advised practices to ‘consider’ these before signing new contracts with TPP.
The GPC also said Mr Hester should ‘resign and hand over his directorship with immediate effect’.
TPP’s product SystmOne is one of the two leading patient consultation computer systems used by more than 2,700 GP practices across England.
READERS' COMMENTS [7]
Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles
Apparently Yorkshire police think saying nasty things about Diane Abbott is a more serious offence than being deliberately rammed off your bike by a hit and run car driver.
Perhaps if I had told the Police that the driver was a Tory donor they might have done something?
DH, maybe you’re being flippant but, if not, then by your standard, presumably if Frank Hester, (a rich NHS contractor, and a party donor) had said about an MP with a disability (and there’s a few such MPs, eg Robert Halfon) that that MP makes him “want to hate all disabled MPs” and that “that MP should be shot” – you would characterise/excuse these statements merely as Hester “saying nasty things”.
And, I suppose then, by your standard, that there should be no consequences for him, such as him stepping down from the TPP board or the police looking into the matter?
“The BMA’s GP Committee for England last week said it was ‘disgusted’ by reported ‘openly racist’ comments and advised practices to ‘consider’ these before signing new contracts with TPP.”
A few years back the BMA accepted £1 million from Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the Sultan of Brunei.
Brunei is not a democracy and has a questionable human rights record. Stoning as punishment for homosexuality for example.
GPs may wish to consider this before paying membership fees to the BMA.
ps. The Sultan got a medal in return, and a lecture theatre named after him. The Lecture Theatre has since been renamed, but the BMA kept the money.
pps. ps. Elsewhere Puls is reporting “98% vote for strikes” and “overwhelming”support by juniors for strikes.
This is blatantly misleading and factually incorrect..
There are around 70,000 junior doctors, around 30,000 voted for strikes – that’s less than half.
Shamefully misleading reporting by Pulse.
I don’t follow your non sequitur arguments in justification of your original post…smacks of dissembling…
I suppose you’d say about a certain bloke in 1936 Berlin that he was merely “saying nasty things”…..and then distractingly start talking about the London riots that were happening at that time.
There are such things as protected characteristics in law, as I’m sure you know.
What if, instead of an Halfon’s disability, Hester had made comments about his race? I’m sure you’d agree he would rightly be condemned.
(apologies to Robert Halfon for using him as an example to make a logical point)