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Keir Starmer has criticized the shadow justice secretary's remarks about not seeing another white face in parts of Birmingham, suggesting the MP was difficult to regard credibly.

Leadership Campaign Claims

The prime minister implied that Jenrick's observations were linked to a covert Conservative leadership campaign and said he did not believe they accurately reflected 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 wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his remarks despite backlash from individuals including the ex-Tory mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street.

Community Rejection and Support

Starmer, who did not directly engage the statements, said he had supported Street's objections of Jenrick.

• Street had stated to BBC Newsnight the remarks were wrong and portrayed the area as a highly cohesive community.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, Starmer said. Having served as mayor for an extended period, Andy Street possesses deep familiarity with the locality.

The Conservative leader, supported him, saying he had made a truthful observation 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 Divisions

The shadow chancellor became the initial high-ranking Conservative to disassociate from Jenrick over the statements, telling a gathering that they were phrases I would have avoided.

The MP repeatedly told interviewers at the event that he supported the comments and did not retract them as it would be wrong to shut down an important debate that the nation needs to engage in about social cohesion.

When a Sky News journalist suggested that his comments could encourage extremist organizations, he said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous inquiry.

Initial 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 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.