Robert Jenrick is facing criticism over leaked comments in which he reportedly said he “didn’t see another white face” during a 90-minute visit to Handsworth, Birmingham earlier this year.
The shadow justice secretary added “that’s not the kind of country I want to live in”, the Guardian reported.
Jenrick, who is said to have made the comments at an Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on 14 March, described his visit to the neighbourhood as “appalling” and that “it was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to”.
Labour has said people of colour should not have to “justify their Britishness” to Jenrick and demanded he “urgently explain himself”.
Andy Street, the former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, said Handsworth was a place he knew very well and that: “Putting it bluntly, Robert’s wrong”.
“It’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place,” he told BBC Newsnight.
“It is actually one of the most successfully integrated places.”
The leaked comments come after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said she would not allow anyone on the right to tell her children “they do not belong in their own country”.
She told the Tory party conference on Sunday: “I am British, as we all are.
“My children are British and I will not allow anyone on the left to tell them that they belong in a different category, or anyone on the right to tell them that they do not belong in their own country.”
Speaking earlier this year, Jenrick reportedly said: “I went to Handsworth in Birmingham the other day to do a video on litter and it was absolutely appalling.
“It’s as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country.
“But the other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. In fact, in the hour-and-a-half I was filming news there, I 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.”
Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley criticised Jenrick for judging “his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around”.
The MP for Redcar said: “This weekend Kemi Badenoch said she stood against a politics that ‘reduces people to categories and then pits them against each other’.
“Robert Jenrick in his leaked comments reduces people to the colour of their skin and judges his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around.
“His comments clearly cross a red line that his leader has rightly laid down.
“People of colour should not have to justify their Englishness or their Britishness, or their presence in this country to Robert Jenrick or anyone else.
“Robert Jenrick needs to urgently explain himself and why these comments are in any way compatible with what his party leader said yesterday.”
On Tuesday Jenrick will use an address at the Conservative Party conference to to set out plans that would see the Sentencing Council abolished.
He will say ministers should be in charge of sentencing policy, arguing that the current situation has resulted in a “two-tier nightmare” with people treated differently by the courts.
The council, responsible for setting guidelines on sentencing, found itself at the centre of a row earlier this year after it issued guidance recommending judges take into account factors such as ethnicity or gender when deciding whether to ask for a pre-sentence report.
Additional reporting by the Press Association
Hence then, the article about jenrick urged to explain himself over didn t see another white face remark was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Jenrick urged to ‘explain himself’ over ‘didn’t see another white face’ remark )
Also on site :
- Russian hockey legend Ovechkin refuses to wear LGBT tape
- After the Fire, Hope Valley Faces Its First Reckoning in 'When Calls the Heart' Season 13 Episode 3
- Simone Biles Stuns in Jonathan Owens-Inspired Outfit for NFL Playoff Game