Leeds Pride ends sponsorship deal with Frank Hester’s company TPP

Organisers of Yorkshire’s biggest LGBTQ+ festival cut ties over ‘alleged racist comments’ made by businessman about Diane Abbott

The health tech company owned by Conservative party donor Frank Hester has been dropped as a sponsor from Leeds Pride after his remarks about Diane Abbott were widely condemned as racist and misogynistic.

Last month, the Guardian revealed that during a meeting in 2019 Hester had said Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”. These comments are now the subject of an investigation by West Yorkshire police.