we haven't heard from frank hester himself yet that the | frank hester himself yet that the conservativee defended their right to accept and use the donation and say mr hester has rightly apologised for comments made in the past and he has apologised and shown contrition and we consider the matter resolved and they go on to say that fundraising is legitimate part of the democratic process and the alternative is taxpayer funding of political campaigning which would mean less money forfront line campaigning which would mean less money for front line services like schools and hospital or being in the pockets of the trade unions like the labour party. all of the figures released were for the first quarter of 2024, january to april 2024 so we know who has been funding the labour party and they have got their usual large amounts of money from trade unions but much more money from private donations in the business world when they use to get under jeremy corbyn�*s leadership and they have another £i.5 jeremy corbyn�*s leadership and they have another £1.5 million from the company founded by the

nice frank hester. as we claims. nice frank hester.storm the eye has reformed surges again as new poll shows farage effect and finally the daily star. we agree with nigel, which isn't nigel farage is just some bloke. that is it for tonight's show. thanks to questlove and lewis headlines is back tomorrow at 11 pm. if you're watching at 5 am, then of course, stay tuned for breakfast. but for now, it's good night all. good morning and god bless. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello and welcome to your evening gb news weather forecast, brought to you by the met office . so some rain and met office. so some rain and showers around, particularly for northern areas tonight , but northern areas tonight, but clear spells as well. we've still got low pressure up to the north of the uk, bringing various occluded fronts across the uk as we go throughout the rest of this evening. but looking at the detail, any showers across england and wales will slowly fizzle out this evening, leaving plenty of c

nice frank hester. as we claims. nice frank hester.orm the eye has reformed surges again as new poll shows farage effect and finally the daily star. we agree with nigel, which isn't nigel farage is just some bloke. that is it for tonight's show. thanks to questlove and lewis headlines is back tomorrow at 11 pm. if you're watching at 5 am, then of course, stay tuned for breakfast. but for now, it's good night all. good morning and god bless. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello and welcome to your evening gb news weather forecast, brought to you by the met office . so some rain and met office. so some rain and showers around, particularly for northern areas tonight , but northern areas tonight, but clear spells as well. we've still got low pressure up to the north of the uk, bringing various occluded fronts across the uk as we go throughout the rest of this evening. but looking at the detail, any showers across england and wales will slowly fizzle out this evening, leaving plenty of cle

i caught out those remarks by frank hester - out those remarks by frank hester and he _ out those remarkswed genuine contrition and i think when someone is genuinely — contrition and i think when someone is genuinely contrite about what has happened _ is genuinely contrite about what has happened and accepts what they have done is _ happened and accepts what they have done is wrong that that apology is accepted — done is wrong that that apology is accepted. mr done is wrong that that apology is acce ted. ~ ,, , , ., accepted. mr sue dip in his own record and _ accepted. mr sue dip in his own record and throughout - accepted. mr sue dip in his own record and throughout that - accepted. mr sue dip in his own - record and throughout that interview try to turn that focus on two attacks on labour and i think you will see that campaign go that way in the next few days. —— mr rishi sunak. the conservatives and the prime minister trying to focus on their core message that people should be worried about the prospects of a labour government but at the same time, as you saw there, facing many questi

i think rishi sunak has said it was ok to take their money from frank hester because frank hester apologisedin the same way stop his answer is they are not the same because then when there was a clear sense there was a sense of contrition on the other when there was not. it is complicated. i think it is one issue that viewers and others will take differently. not surprising but notable, we had a strong response from our viewers in advance of the programme this morning saying, please ask rishi sunak about this. we hate what happened to him but we do not look at the record of the conservative party in this area and think they have always taken the right steps. in the context of all of this and people's trust in politicians. people are looking at politicians and wanting to believe what they say. some people have been confused about is how can labour's promise on energy be believed. having this energy company called gb energy which will be publicly owned and invest in energy projects which would then end... contributing to growth. the promise they have put aside that is it would save people £300

i think rishi sunak has said it was ok to take their money from frank hester because frank hester apologisedhad in the same way stop his answer is they are not the same because then when there was a clear sense there was a sense of contrition on the other when there was not. it is complicated. i think it is one that viewers and others will take differently. we had a strong response from our viewers in advance of the programme this morning saying, please ask rishi sunak about this. we hate what happened to him but we do not look at the record of the conservative party in this area and think they have always taken the right steps. people are looking at politicians and wanting to believe what they say. some people have been confused about is how can labour's promise on energy be believed. having this energy company called gb energy which will be publicly owned and invest in energy projects which would then end... contributing to growth. the promise they have put aside that is it would save people £300 a year. we asked pat mcfadden how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so simple. that is

i think rishi sunak has said it was ok to take their money from frank hester because frank hester apologisedhere activist had in the same way stop his answer is they are not the same because then when there was a clear sense there was a sense of contrition on the other when there was not. it is complicated. i think it is one that viewers and others will take differently. we had a strong response from our viewers in advance of the programme this morning saying, please ask rishi sunak about this. we hate what happened to him but we do not look at the record of the conservative party in this area and think they have always taken the right steps. people are looking at politicians and wanting to believe what they say. some people have been confused about is how can labour's promise on energy be believed. having this energy company called gb energy which will be publicly owned and invest in energy projects which would then end... ..contributing to growth. the promise they have put aside that is it would save people £300 a year. we asked pat mcfadden how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so

i think rishi sunak has said it was ok to take their money from frank hester because frank hester apologisedist had in the same way stop his answer is they are not the same because then when there was a clear sense there was a sense of contrition on the other when there was not. it is complicated. i think it is one that viewers and others will take differently. we had a strong response from our viewers in advance of the programme this morning saying, please ask rishi sunak about this. we hate what happened to him but we do not look at the record of the conservative party in this area and think they have always taken the right steps. people are looking at politicians and wanting to believe what they say. some people have been confused about is how can labour's promise on energy be believed. having this energy company called gb energy which will be publicly owned and invest in energy projects which would then end... contributing to growth. the promise they have put aside that is it would save people £300 a year. we asked pat mcfadden how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so simple. tha

hester because frank hester apologised.ly. we had a strong response from our viewers in advance of the programme this morning saying, please ask rishi sunak about this. we hate what happened to him but we do not look at the record of the conservative party in this area i think they have always taken the right steps. people are looking at politicians and wanting to believe what they say. some people have been confused about how can labour's promise on energy be bullied. having this energy company cold gp energy which will be publicly owned and invest in energy projects which would then end... contributing to growth. the promise they have put aside that is it would save people £300 a year. we asked pat mcfadden how to get to that statistic. it is how to get to that statistic. it is not uuite how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so _ how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so simple. _ how to get to that statistic. it is not quite so simple. that is based on current— not quite so simple. that is based on current

the money was generated by a software company run by frank hester, who said the comments were rootedck in march over the conservative donor frank hester prompted rishi sunak to say this... the alleged comments were wrong. they were racist. as i said, the comments were wrong, they were racist. he has rightly apologised for them and that remorse, and that remorse should be accepted. mr hester is alleged to have told his staff that the veteran labour politician diane abbott made him want to "hate all black women and that she should be shot." he subsequently apologised for being rude but insisted his comments had nothing to do with ms abbott's race or gender. we knew back then that mr hester had given the conservatives £10 million in 2023. what we now know is that injanuary, through his company, mr hester gave the conservatives £5 million and another £150,000 was accepted in march — the day after rishi sunak�*s comments in parliament. taking the total to more than £15 million injust ten months. today, those donations are an election issue. people make comments, and i'm not going to stand

more than half of that was from frank hester�*s company.ing money from a foreign government is dangerous to democracy and is unpatriotic. please get the candidate to state where their funding comes from. well, andrew, it's illegal for parties or candidates to take donations from foreign governments more broadly under uk law. there are rules on who a party or candidate can take donations from, but donations over £500 political parties must check the donor is uk registered either on the electoral register or as a company trade union or as a company, trade union or other organisation. candidates have the same rules, but the threshold is lower. anything over £50 must be disclosed. and then this is greg in sheffield, asking will any party ban lobbying or political donations from lobbyists? well, greg, there's no prospect of this. lobbying has long been part of the uk's democracy, and lobbyists can donate like any individual or company. none of the major parties want a ban on lobbyists. some, though, do suggest reforms to how political donations

the first relates to businessmen and consider donor frank hester.tt. mr hester apologised for making rude comments but said his remarks had nothing to do with diane abbott gender or colour of skin. nigel from sussex contacted us about mr hester asking us is the government morally obliged to election? political donations go to parties or individual politicians, not to the government. party donations are regulated and public by the electoral commission for the parties on a national level must report any donations and loans over 11,000, £180. and the donor in each case too. that also applies of several smaller amounts from the same donor cross this threshold. normally the electoral commission releases details of this every three months. during the general election campaign this data is published weekly. some was released on friday, showing that labour raised £926,000 in the first week of the campaign look up the conservatives raise 574,000. to put that in context, here are the donations in the first three months of this year. the conservatives accepted

so it was ok to take frank hester's money and i to take frank hester's money and then to take more moneylogies should be accepted. that happened in the case of frank hester, it happened in the case of diane abbott herself as she was accepted back into the labour party. was accepted back into the labour pa . ., , ., , party. you 'ust mentioned mistakes that we party. you just mentioned mistakes that we have _ party. you just mentioned mistakes that we have been _ party. you just mentioned mistakes that we have been asking our i that we have been asking our politicians about mistakes this morning. when was the last time you were wrong? you morning. when was the last time you were wrong?— were wrong? you should talk to my wife or my — were wrong? you should talk to my wife or my daughters! _ were wrong? you should talk to my wife or my daughters! they - were wrong? you should talk to my wife or my daughters! they would l were wrong? you should talk to my i wife or my daughters! they would say on a regular basis! this campaign is something that i am proud of, and that's what we're here to ta

hester, after he had been accused of making racist comments about labour's diane abbott. dissappeared on the greek island of symi. they also commemorate d—day veterans attending events on both sides of the channel. lets get the latest on the disappearance of the tv presenter, michael mosley — known for the 5:2 diet. he has gone missing whilst on holiday after setting off for a walk at lunchtime yesterday, on the greek island of symi, but failed to return. joe inwood has more from greece. as news filtered through the greek island of symi, locals shared this recent picture of michael mosley, appealing for help to find him. yesterday, the well—known broadcaster disappeared while walking on this idyllic island. it is now the focus of a search and rescue operation. firefighters, police and volunteers on the ground, a helicopter from athens from above. greek police say michael mosley left his wife on st nicholas beach, setting off on a walk to the centre of the island. he failed to make it back to where they were staying and his phone was found. the 67—year—old broadcaster has

it's emerged the conservative party accepted a further £150,000 from the businessman, frank hester, days came under intense pressure from other parties to return mr hester�*s donations — which included one of £5 million made injanuary — when the row erupted in march. mr hester allegedly said that ms abbott "should be shot" and that she made him "want to hate all black women". the conservatives said he had "apologised and shown contrition" so the matter was resolved. the green party has launched its plans for the nhs. it wants to deliver an extra £30 billion a yearfor the health service in england by 2030, as well as an extra £20 billion for social care. they say they will raise the money by asking the "very richest" to pay more tax and extending the windfall tax on oil and gas companies. we all value our nhs, - and the green party is the only party being honest in this election about the level of funding - that's going to be needed, i and being honest that we're going to need to askl the richest in society, i including the multimillionaires,| the billionaires, to pay modestly more in tax

frank hester , who over them.c comments regarding , diane abbott during regarding, diane abbott during a speech that he was giving and he's given the tories another £5 million in january of this year after the 10 million last year. and i think another 150,000 in march, we all knew that these were not good things. he shouldn't have said them. and yet the tory party has taken more money from him. so i always said right from the start that they needed to give the money back.i they needed to give the money back. i maintain that stance, however , i think it does bring however, i think it does bring into question how political parties are funded because i don't think there are any clean hands. whenever you look at politics, money is involved, donors are involved to all sides. so i think that either we need to have a proper conversation about political funding , or conversation about political funding, or we conversation about political funding , or we need to funding, or we need to understand that sometimes people's bel

of course, eyebrows were raised when he didn't come rapidly with strong condemnation of what frank hesteror, had said about diane abbott, the longest serving female black mp. he did condemn that language, but the conservative party really, really had trouble over a few days giving it that kind of very stark, clear condemnation. and there are various other episodes, you know, i mean, in all political parties, yes. but it is a regular criticism of the conservative party that in various different incidents they have been slow to call out, particularly islamophobia, but other kinds of insults and other kinds of standard of behaviour. so i think this is not straightforward for rishi sunak, but it is very much a big moment in the campaign. whether it will shift any votes or not, i have no idea. but for him it is definitely an important and memorable moment of him as a politician. some of his supporters might say both there and at the debate this week that we talked about on wednesday night in nottingham, some people might feel in the conservative party, "where was this guy a few weeks ago?" wel

of course, eyebrows were raised when he didn't come rapidly with strong condemnation of what frank hesteror, had said about diane abbott, the longest serving female black mp. he did condemn that language, but the conservative party really, really had trouble over a few days giving it that kind of very stark, clear condemnation. and there are various other episodes, you know, i mean, in all political parties, yes. but it is a regular criticism of the conservative party that in various different incidents they have been slow to call out, particularly islamophobia, but other kinds of insults and other kinds of standard of behaviour. so i think this is not straightforward for rishi sunak, but it is very much a big moment in the campaign. whether it will shift any votes or not, i have no idea. but for him it is definitely an important and memorable moment of him as a politician. some of his supporters might say both there and at the debate this week that we talked about on wednesday night in nottingham, some people might feel in the conservative party, "where was this guy a few weeks ago?" wel

hester, who was a tory donor, then he got into hot water for some comments he made about diane abbotthat people thought were were quite violent and quite racist. he's now a tory donor again, chris. he is. so we knew that he'd given plenty of money, ten million quid in the past. what we've found out with this latest set of declarations is that there was an additional £5 million injanuary and then there was a further 150 grand in march, early march, march the eighth. and the reason that date matters and the donation was formally accepted by the conservatives about a week later on, on the 14th is that is when that whole row about that recording with those remarks that you referred to was all over the news and where rishi sunak and others were being asked a, you know, will you condemn the remarks? and b. did i say..? i thought i said one and two then, yeah. b, will you give the money back? and they didn't give the money back. they never claimed that they would, by the way. but yeah, whilst that was swirling they were accepting additional money on top of the, i mean wads of the stuff that

they have had some donations from someone, frank hester, and i think they will be pretty controversialto a veterans charity. i think if they did that people might be able to draw a line. but it is such a let down for our whole country, our history, and particularly our brave veterans. i think they have got to do more. to veterans. i think they have got to do more. ., , ., ., do more. to ed davey, leader of the liberal democrats. _ let�*s ta ke let�*s take a look at the sport. hello again. we start with tennis and the world number one, iga swiatek will look to lift the french open title for a third successive year. she faces italy�*s jasmine paolini in today�*s women�*s singles final. 0ur tennis correspondent russell fullerjoins me now from roland garros. hi there, russell. what a contrast we have here, between the queen of clay and a late bloomer. yes, eager sway yes, eager sway on yes, eager sway on tickets trying to win the french open title for a third year in a row, the fourth time five years. she is also a us open champion of recent vintage and a runaway number one. she has the te

when you looked at frank hester, and diane abbott, and what he said about that party, and how the partyer that story came out, it does make you wonder how much influence to these donors have, who is actually in charge. these donors have, who is actually in charae. , ., ., , in charge. joanne going to bring you in charge. joanne going to bring you in on this. when _ in charge. joanne going to bring you in on this. when you _ in charge. joanne going to bring you in on this. when you look— in charge. joanne going to bring you in on this. when you look at - in charge. joanne going to bring you in on this. when you look at the - in on this. when you look at the list, is anything that stands out? or the difference between a conservative and labour fundraising, i think is really key, and an indication of how the whole political landscape appears to be changing. the political landscape appears to be chanauin. , ., _ ., changing. the polls, obviously, for sometime. _ changing. the polls, obviously, for sometime. he _ changing. the polls, obviously, for some time, he in _ changing. the polls, obv

we'd like to correct an error made earlier regarding donations to the conservative party by frank hesteration of £5 million was made after the row erupted. the correct sum accepted after the comments became public was £150,000. the full effect of avian flu on the seabird colonies of the farne islands is coming to light, as national trust rangers carry out the first full count there for five years. one species that has been severely hit is the puffin, and wardens say it could take years for numbers to fully recover. alison freeman reports. challenging times for these seabirds on the farnes. and whilst the islands off the northumberland coast remain clear of avian flu so far this year, the long—term effect the disease has had on a number of the species is becoming apparent to the rangers who monitor and help the birds here. the rock base over there, there would normally be double the guillemots over there. you know, you wouldn't won't actually see the the rock because there'd be so many. despite the good news that there's no sign of the bird flu, we have had some quite catastrophic decline

the frank hester row was one that hit the headlines if you weeks ago and has resurfaced.view. ., . , the conservative party point of view. ., ., , ., view. not ideal. they will have known these _ view. not ideal. they will have known these figures _ view. not ideal. they will have known these figures are - view. not ideal. they will have l known these figures are coming view. not ideal. they will have - known these figures are coming out today because this is the quarterly release by the commission. the conservatives will have known these were going to be disclosed at this point and, yes, were going to be disclosed at this pointand, yes, at were going to be disclosed at this point and, yes, at this point during a general election campaign. the awkwardness is clearly, from their point of view, worth it. they say because of his contrition, but let's because of his contrition, but let's be clear, because of his money. he has given the conservative party an extraordinary amount of money, £15 million, in the space ofjust ten months. that makes him by far and away the biggest c

let's not forget that they took frank hester's money and didn't apologise for his comments and or norurned the money. if i were them, i'd probably be pretty quiet about this. because you look like you stink of hypocrisy. we could say the same about the labour party, who are also standing racist candidates in this election. people have made racial slurs. the only party that seems to have taken any action is actually nigel farage's party. who stood them down in the middle of an election. >> has any candidate , benjamin >> has any candidate, benjamin or campaigner that you know of that we've heard of in the news recently said something like f word p word about the first british asian prime minister >> no, of course they haven't. and anybody that did on camera, they haven't. i have absolutely no doubt that they're not saying that behind a camera either, because you have to be a pretty extreme person to use that. i've never heard that said by anybody in my life of any description. so it's not a normal thing that people say about rishi sunak. what are the good things about rishi sunak is th

at the time rishi sunak came under intense pressure to give back the money that frank hester had donated

did he say anything about frank hester when he referred to diane abbott, making him feel physically sick >> there are there are burdens and goulden's rishi sunak is a prime minister. >> he's not meant to be a burden. >> i didn't say he was a burden. i said there are good and bad in all the parties, and, you know, lots of people would agree with what nigel farage said about the ukraine situation, but that's what this channel does. >> we debate yes or no. >> we debate yes or no. >> very fair. there's no no go areas. okay, but responding to mr farage's claims, a spokesperson for channel 4 said we strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism, which speaks for itself. we met mr parker for the first time at reform uk's headquarters, where he was a reform party canvasser. we did not pay the reform uk canvasser or anyone else in this report. mr parker was not known to channel 4 news and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation . okay, so i mean, that operation. okay, so i mean, that is their statement now, we are, because we have mentioned the c word again, i have to read

do we do we smear the whole tory party for frank hester's words and call them all racists for that, forno. do we smear the whole labour party for what the whole labour party for what the clacton candidate or diane abbott says and call them racists? no. so let's be clear about what the prime minister is trying to do by saying there's a culture in reform. he's trying to smear the whole party. he's trying to smear the people that are going to be voting for him. i'm going to be voting for reform. i'm not a racist person. i would never make those comments. so hopefully i'm more representative of people who are going to vote for reform than any of those vulgar comments that are made out of potential actor, and some nasty other activists and candidates. >> well, the nigel farage has said that a lot of the people who may have aligned themselves with the bnp or other sort of right leaning parties may have sort of been absorbed within his own party. he says that and actually says that what he did was probably help to squash the bnp because of that. but obviously every party will have its extreme

he was put under pressure about the donation from frank hester, the businessman who has been criticisedmments. he said again people should apologise when they have done something wrong and that that apology should be accepted. 0n that apology should be accepted. on it went, he was put under pressure about if he couldn't repeat liz truss in the leadership election in 2022, whether that showed he couldn't win this general election. he said, i was right in the election against liz truss and i am right now. finally again on taxes, he was found by a junior doctor who has phoned him before in an lbc phone him and asked how he might resolve thejunior him and asked how he might resolve the junior doctors him and asked how he might resolve thejunior doctors pay him and asked how he might resolve the junior doctors pay dispute, him and asked how he might resolve thejunior doctors pay dispute, they are asking for 35% and rishi sunak said, i do not want to put everyone's taxes up to paper that pay offer forjunior doctors. very familiar territory. the election campaign goes on for rishi sunak and he

. —— frank hester.roadly, under uk law, there are rules on to a party or candidate can take donations from. the donations over £500, political parties must check the donor is uk registered. either on the electoral register or as a company, trade union or other organisation. candidates have the same rules but if threshold is lower. anything over £50 must be disclosed. then this is greg, in sheffield, asking will any party by not lobbying or political donations from obvious. well, there is no prospect of this. lobbying has long been part of the uk's democracy and will can donate like any individual or company. none of the major parties want a ban on lobbyists. some, though, do suggest reforms to help political donations are working overall. the lib dems want a cap on donations, the greens want to introduce state funding to reduce dependence on donations and labour said it wants to strengthen the rules around donations but no ban is being suggested, either on lobbying or donations. thank you very much inde

more than half of that was from the company of frank hester.nd donations but no ban is being suggested, either on lobbying or donations. thank you very much indeed for your questions. if you want to get in touch about the election, the e—mail is on screen now. and as i mentioned earlier — you can read more about all of those stories and follow the campaign trail on the live page which is on the bbc news website and app. justin timberlake has been arrested in new york state on charges of driving while intoxicated. us police say the american singer—songwriter was pulled over early on tuesday in sag harbor — which is in the upmarket hamptons area of long island. he was arraigned in the justice court this morning and his representatives said they have no further comment to make at the moment. he was pulled over early on tuesday and then arraigned a short while ago. the post office inquiry continues today with two directors from the forensic accountancy firm credited with helping to expose the scandal, giving evidence. our correspondent azadeh moshi

just finally, the scandal about the conservative party accepting those £10 million of donations from frankk, is it? >> well, mr hester rightly apologised for his remarks that he made , previously. what we're he made, previously. what we're looking at here with vaughan gething now is somebody who contributed to a leadership campaign with criminal convictions and strongly linked to the work of governments here, because it's the regulator from government here, which decides the environmental crimes which he was convicted of. so the links there are very strong and that's why we're rightly concerned and rightly raised a motion . no confidence, which the motion. no confidence, which the first minister lost here yesterday summarily . yesterday summarily. >> thanks so much for talking to us today on gb news. so we will see what happens next. vaughan gething has gone to normandy for the d—day commemorations , but, the d—day commemorations, but, he's in an incredibly weak position here. and when you look at what happened with humza yousaf , i mean, it makes humza yousaf, i mean, it makes humza yousa

we have talked before about the donations that the conservatives received from frank hester, £5 millionte to political parties. that is why we have the 30 day window to look at the donor and check if they are permissible. in terms of why people donate, people have all sorts of individual reasons why they might donate to a political party. they may think that they believe in the principles of that political party as you say, but there are strict rules about who can donate, and also there are strict rules about how much political parties can spend during an election campaign. the national spending limit... acne is all set out on the electoral commission website if you want to check them out. they are governed very closely. as you say, there are all kinds of reasons why different individuals or companies may want to choose to donate or stop it is probably not for me to say, implying any motives to any individual, but i think that we can get a sense from the vast gap between labour and the conservatives in particular, i guess, a sense of how optimistic and excited people who donate to the l