🔗 Share this article

The Prime Minister has condemned Robert Jenrick's remarks about not seeing another white face in parts of Birmingham, stating the politician was difficult to regard credibly.

Political Ambitions Accusations

Starmer suggested that Jenrick's comments were linked to a stealth Tory bid for leadership and asserted he did not believe they accurately reflected the area of Handsworth.

I find it difficult to regard Robert Jenrick's statements as credible; he's obviously continuing his leadership campaign.

The shadow justice secretary has been accused of fuelling a fire of toxic nationalism after he doubled down on his complaint despite backlash from figures including the former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street.

Community Response and Defense

Starmer, who did not directly engage the statements, said he had supported Andy Street's criticisms of Jenrick.

• The former mayor had told the media the remarks were wrong and described Handsworth as a highly cohesive community.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, Starmer said. Having served as mayor for an extended period, Andy Street possesses deep familiarity with the locality.

Kemi Badenoch, defended him, saying he had made a truthful observation and that there was nothing wrong with making observations.

But she also told the program: I don’t think this is where the debate should be, about how many faces people see on the street and what they look like.

Party Disagreements

Mel Stride became the first senior Tory to distance himself from Jenrick over the statements, informing a Politico fringe event that they were not words that I would have used.

Jenrick repeatedly told journalists at the conference that he supported the comments and did not retract them as it would be wrong to end a crucial discussion that we have to have as a country about social cohesion.

When a reporter put it to him that his remarks could encourage extremist organizations, he said it was an completely unacceptable and absurd question.

Original Remarks

In his original remarks, Jenrick said the area was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. In fact, in the 90 minutes he was filming news there he didn’t see another white face.

That’s not the kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated. It’s not about the colour of your skin or your faith – of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives. That’s not the right way we want to live as a country.