Keir Starmer Dismisses Jenrick's Birmingham Remarks as Hard to Take Seriously.

The Prime Minister has condemned Robert Jenrick's statements about the lack of white faces in areas of Birmingham, suggesting the politician was hard to take seriously.

Political Ambitions Accusations

The prime minister suggested that Jenrick's observations were part of a stealth Tory bid for leadership and said 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 wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his remarks despite criticism from figures including the former Conservative mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Local Rejection and Defense

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

• Street had stated to 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 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

The shadow chancellor became the first senior Tory to distance himself from Jenrick over the statements, telling a Politico fringe event that they were not words that I would have used.

The MP repeatedly informed interviewers at the conference that he supported the remarks and did not resile from them as it would be wrong to end a crucial discussion that we have to have as a country about social cohesion.

When a reporter put it to him that his remarks could embolden extremist organizations, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous inquiry.

Initial Remarks

In his initial comments, the MP said Handsworth was among the least cohesive locations I have visited. Specifically, in the hour and a half 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.