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The Prime Minister has criticized Robert Jenrick's statements about the lack of white faces in parts of Birmingham, stating the MP was hard to take seriously.

Political Ambitions Accusations

Starmer implied that his observations were part of a stealth Tory leadership campaign 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.

Jenrick has been criticized for igniting a wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his complaint despite criticism from individuals including the ex-Tory mayor of the West Midlands, the former mayor.

Local Response and Support

The prime minister, who did not directly engage the statements, said he had agreed with Street's criticisms of the MP.

• Street had stated to the media the comments were incorrect 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, 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

Mel Stride became the initial high-ranking Conservative to distance himself from his colleague over the statements, informing a Politico fringe event that they were phrases I would have avoided.

The MP repeatedly told journalists at the conference that he supported the comments and did not retract 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 Sky News journalist suggested that his comments could embolden far-right groups, he said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous inquiry.

Original Statements

In his original remarks, the MP said Handsworth was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. In fact, 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.