Diane Abbott has reported Conservative Party donor Frank Hester to the police after he was alleged to have said the MP “should be shot”, it has been revealed.
Scotland Yard confirmed that officers from its Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team were in touch with an MP about a report in the Guardian, which broke the story at the weekend.
Hester is alleged to have said Ms Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, made him “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “On Monday, 11 March officers from the Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team were contacted in relation to a report about an MP that appeared in the Guardian.
“We are assessing the matter and are liaising with West Yorkshire Police as the alleged incident is believed to have taken place in Leeds.
“Officers from the Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team remain in contact with the MP.”
Downing Street has said the comments were “racist and wrong” today after earlier refusing to describe them as such.
Rishi Sunak had come under pressure over the remarks as Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch broke ranks to describe them as “racist” while Number 10 continued to resist saying whether it believed they were.
In a new statement issued on Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister’s 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.
“The Prime Minister is clear there is no place for racism in public life and as the first British-Asian Prime Minister leading one of the most ethnically diverse Cabinets in our history, the UK is living proof of that fact.”
Downing Street earlier said the reported remarks were “unacceptable” but would not describe them as racist.
“I don’t have anything to add beyond what minister (Graham) Stuart said this morning,” Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said when asked on Tuesday morning.