The company run by the Tory donor Frank Hester, whose remarks about Diane Abbott have been widely condemned as racist, paid a Conservative peer £148,000 to act as a trade envoy, the Guardian can reveal, as evidence of his links to the party deepen. Zahida Manzoor, a former deputy chair of the Commission for Racial Equality in the 1990s who went on to be a Lords whip under Theresa May’s government, took on the part-time role as chair of a Middle East advisory council for Hester’s health tech TPP in September 2016. The £12,300-a-month role, which ended in September 2017, shows that Hester’s ties to the Conservatives go back longer than previously thought. Lady Manzoor confirmed the role at the Phoenix Partnership (TPP) and pointed out that it was declared in the register of members’ interests at the time. She joined the widespread condemnation of the Hester’s remarks last week, and told the Guardian she did not witness any racism when working for TPP. Hester has donated £10m to the party in the last year, …