🔗 Share this article

Keir Starmer has criticized Robert Jenrick's statements about the lack of white faces in parts of Birmingham, suggesting the politician was hard to take seriously.

Leadership Campaign Accusations

Starmer implied that Jenrick's comments were part of a covert Conservative bid for leadership and asserted he did not believe they accurately reflected the neighborhood of the Birmingham district.

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

Jenrick has been criticized for igniting a fire of toxic nationalism after he reiterated his remarks despite backlash from figures including the ex-Tory mayor of the region, the former mayor.

Community Response and Defense

Starmer, who avoided directly addressing the comments, said he had supported Andy Street's criticisms of Jenrick.

• The former mayor had stated to the media the remarks were wrong and described the area as a highly cohesive community.
• I think that what Andy Street said was right, the prime minister said. Having served as mayor for an extended period, Andy Street possesses deep familiarity with the locality.

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

But she also told the program: In my opinion, the discussion should not focus on the number or appearance of individuals seen on streets.

Internal Divisions

The shadow chancellor became the initial high-ranking Conservative to distance himself from his colleague over the statements, telling a Politico fringe event that they were not words that I would have used.

Jenrick repeatedly told interviewers at the event that he supported the comments and did not resile from them as it would be wrong to shut down an important debate that we have to have as a country about integration.

When a reporter suggested that his remarks could embolden far-right groups, he said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous question.

Initial Statements

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 recording in the area he observed no other white individuals.

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.