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The Prime Minister has criticized Robert Jenrick's remarks about the lack of white faces in areas of Handsworth, stating the MP was hard to take seriously.

Political Ambitions Accusations

Starmer suggested that Jenrick's comments were part of a stealth Tory leadership campaign and asserted he did not believe they accurately reflected the area of the Birmingham district.

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 wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his complaint despite backlash from individuals including the former Conservative mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Community Response and Defense

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

• Street had stated to BBC Newsnight the comments 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.

The Conservative leader, defended Jenrick, saying he had made a factual statement 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 his colleague over the statements, telling a gathering that they were phrases I would have avoided.

Jenrick repeatedly told interviewers at the event that he supported the remarks 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 Sky News journalist suggested that his remarks could embolden extremist organizations, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous inquiry.

Original Remarks

In his original remarks, Jenrick said Handsworth 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 didn’t see another white face.

This is not the nation I desire to reside in. I prefer a country with proper integration. Skin color or religion is not the issue—naturally not. However, I advocate for people coexisting together, not leading separate existences. That is not the ideal lifestyle for our country.