Tory donor reveals he had to 'fight' for refund after £100,000 breakfast with Boris Johnson 'didn't materialise'
14 March 2024, 09:56 | Updated: 14 March 2024, 10:17
A Tory donor has told LBC how he had to fight for a £100,000 refund after a breakfast date with Boris Johnson “didn’t materialise.”
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Business tycoon Mohammed Amersi paid for the early morning meeting with the former prime minister after winning a fundraising dinner auction in November 2019.
Frustrated by his failure to get his breakfast meeting with Mr Johnson, Mr Amersi told Lewis Goodall: “I got my £100,000 back.
“Boris Johnson’s breakfast I paid for in an auction didn’t materialise. I had to fight for it but I got it back. "
Boris Johnson bails on breakfast with donor
“There’s no reason why they should not pay the £10m back.”
In 2021 it was reported that Mr Amersi’s £99,500 donation was reported to the Electoral Commission in January that year but many months later he had still not had the breakfast meeting he won.
Mr Amersi also told LBC he would be “holding back the cheque book” adding that the Tories’ handling of the Frank Hester case has been an “absolute disgrace.”
He was referring to a £10m donation made by businessman Frank Hester to the Tory party, who found himself at the centre of a racism storm this week after allegedly saying Diane Abbott, Britain's first black female MP, made him "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot."
The Prime Minister eventually described the comments as "racist" after initially refusing to do so.
Cabinet minister Mr Gove described the remarks as "horrific" but said he was exercising "Christian forgiveness" after the entrepreneur had "shown contrition".
It came as Mr Gove unveiled the Government's new definition of extremism on Thursday.
It describes extremism as "the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance" that aims to "negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others" or "undermine, overturn or replace the UK's system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights".
Speaking ahead of a speech to the Commons, Mr Gove said it was not up to him to rule whether Mr Hester's words were extremist.
Mr Gove noted that he took "these issues incredibly seriously" as someone who was targeted by an extremist who went on to kill Sir David Amess MP.
Amid continuing calls for the Tories to return the £10 million Mr Hester has donated to the party, the Communities Secretary reiterated the Government's line that Mr Hester's apology should be accepted.
Ms Abbott has accused the Conservatives and Labour of failing to tackle racism.
In newspaper articles on Wednesday, she said the "reluctance to call out racism and sexism" was "shocking, but hardly surprising", and warned the Conservatives would "play the race card... ruthlessly" at the next election.
