If the Tories really want to stamp out prejudice, they should first start with their own party

After its woefully sluggish handling of the Tory donor racism scandal, the governing party looks dangerously out of touch with British values, says Andrew Grice

Rishi Sunak faced accusations during Prime Minister’s Questions that he puts ‘money before morals’ (Parliament TV)

Rishi Sunak got there in the end, but it should not have taken 24 hours to condemn the Conservative Party donor Frank Hester’s alleged attack on Diane Abbott as “racist and wrong”. The prime minister was bounced into it by Kemi Badenoch, his business secretary and equalities minister, who spotted an opening to do the right thing. The approach of Prime Minister’s Questions today will also have concentrated sluggish minds in Downing Street.

That Badenoch got there first is another sign of Sunak’s waning authority. His political judgment has been shown to be woeful, and Tory MPs are again calling the abilities of his No 10 operation into question.

There was a similar delay in criticising Lee Anderson’s attack on Sadiq Khan as Islamophobic. As with Hester’s reported remarks, ministers were sent out to media interviews with an indefensible line that was never going to hold. The approach seems to be: “Let’s see if we can get away with it, and we’ll assess later.” It might have worked in a bygone age, when politicians could wait for tomorrow’s front pages, but in the social media era, they need to respond instantly. If they don’t, the damage is done, and it has been.