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Keir Starmer has criticized the shadow justice secretary's remarks about not seeing another white face in areas of Handsworth, stating the politician was difficult to regard credibly.

Political Ambitions Accusations

Starmer implied that Jenrick's observations were linked to a stealth Tory bid for leadership and asserted 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 accused of fuelling a fire of toxic nationalism after he doubled down on his remarks despite backlash from figures including the former Conservative mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Local Response and Support

The prime minister, who avoided directly addressing the comments, said he had agreed with Street's criticisms of the MP.

• The former mayor had told the media the remarks were wrong and portrayed Handsworth as a highly cohesive community.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, Starmer said. Andy Street obviously was mayor for a long time and knows the area very very well.

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

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

Party Divisions

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

Jenrick repeatedly informed interviewers at the conference that he stood by the remarks 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 Sky News journalist suggested that his comments could embolden extremist organizations, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous 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 hour and a half he was filming news there 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.