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Keir Starmer has criticized the shadow justice secretary's remarks about the lack of white faces in parts of Birmingham, suggesting the politician was difficult to regard credibly.

Leadership Campaign Accusations

Starmer suggested that Jenrick's comments were part of a stealth Conservative leadership campaign and said he did not believe they accurately reflected the neighborhood 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 wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his complaint despite backlash from individuals including the ex-Tory mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Local Rejection and Defense

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

• Street had told BBC Newsnight the comments were wrong and portrayed Handsworth as a very integrated place.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, the prime minister 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 factual statement and that there was no issue with noting realities.

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 comments, telling a gathering that they were not words that I would have used.

Jenrick repeatedly informed journalists at the event that he stood by 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 put it to him that his remarks could encourage far-right groups, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous question.

Original Remarks

In his original remarks, the MP 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.

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.