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The Prime Minister has criticized the shadow justice secretary's remarks about the lack of white faces in parts of Birmingham, stating the MP was hard to take seriously.

Political Ambitions Claims

The prime minister suggested that his comments were linked to a covert Tory leadership campaign and said he did not believe they painted a true picture the neighborhood of Handsworth.

It’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously; he’s clearly still running his leadership campaign.

The shadow justice secretary has been criticized for igniting a fire of toxic nationalism after he doubled down on his remarks despite criticism from figures including the former Conservative mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Community Response and Support

Starmer, who avoided directly addressing the comments, said he had agreed with Andy Street's objections of Jenrick.

• Street had stated to the media the remarks were wrong and described the area as a highly cohesive community.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, the prime minister said. Andy Street obviously was mayor for a long time and knows the area very very well.

Kemi Badenoch, defended Jenrick, saying he had made a factual statement and that there was no issue with noting realities.

However, she added on BBC Breakfast: 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.

Internal Divisions

The shadow chancellor became the initial high-ranking Conservative to disassociate from Jenrick over the statements, telling a gathering that they were not words that I would have used.

The MP repeatedly told journalists at the conference that he supported the remarks and did not resile from them as it would be wrong to end a crucial discussion that the nation needs to engage in about integration.

When a Sky News journalist put it to him that his remarks could encourage extremist organizations, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous question.

Initial Remarks

In his original remarks, the MP said the area was among the least cohesive locations I have visited. Specifically, in the 90 minutes he was recording in the area 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.