He later apologised for what he called rude comments. Plenty of people saw the remarks straightaway as racist but it took an age in political terms for rishi sunak to agree. At a rally on friday night in hackney, diane abbott told the crowd to stand firm against racism. This is about the way that black women are disrespected. Decade upon decade. The conservative Cabinet Minister and transport secretary, mark harper, spoke to laura kuennsberg, on her sunday morning programme, she asked him Whether Frank Hester s comments were racist. Did you think these comments were racist . Yes, look, the Prime Minister made it very clear at Prime Ministers questions on wednesday that they were racist. It took him some time to do that. Did you think straight they were racist . You said it took an age in political terms but it didnt take long at all, the Prime Minister said it on wednesday and his spokesperson was clear the day before that they were racist comments and unacceptable. And frank hester ap