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Keir Starmer has criticized Robert Jenrick's statements about the lack of white faces in areas of Handsworth, stating the politician was hard to take seriously.

Political Ambitions Claims

Starmer implied that his comments were part of a covert Conservative bid for leadership and said he did not believe they accurately reflected the neighborhood of the Birmingham district.

It’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously; he’s clearly still running his leadership campaign.

Jenrick has been accused of fuelling a fire of toxic nationalism after he doubled down on his complaint despite backlash from figures including the ex-Tory mayor of the region, Andy Street.

Local Response and Support

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

• Street had told the media the comments were incorrect and portrayed Handsworth as a highly cohesive community.
• I think that what Andy Street said was right, Starmer said. Andy Street obviously was mayor for a long time and knows the area very very well.

The Conservative leader, supported Jenrick, 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.

Internal Disagreements

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

Jenrick repeatedly told 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 social cohesion.

When a reporter put it to him that his comments could embolden far-right groups, Jenrick said it was an completely unacceptable and absurd question.

Original Statements

In his original remarks, Jenrick said the area was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. Specifically, in the 90 minutes he was recording in the area he observed no other white individuals.

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.