Robert Jenrick should apologise for his “disgraceful comments” bemoaning the lack of visible white faces in a part of Birmingham, the Mayor of the West Midlands has said.
Richard Parker told Sky News’ UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee that he was “shocked and truly appalled” by what the shadow justice secretary said about integration in Handsworth.
In a recording from March obtained by The Guardian, Mr Jenrick said that the inner-city area “was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to” and that “in the hour and a half I was filming news there I didn’t see another white face”.
Mr Parker, a Labour mayor, told Sky News: “I thought they were disgraceful comments.
“They’re really damaging comments about, you know, one of the great communities in Birmingham, in Handsworth, a community that is vibrant, is very welcoming, very hospitable and full of generosity.”
Mr Jenrick doubled down on his comments on Tuesday, saying he would not “shy away” from issues of integration.
But Mr Parker said it was not an accurate reflection of Handsworth as he called on the senior Tory MP and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to apologise.
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He said: “I’m shocked and truly appalled. He doesn’t know Handsworth. If he wanted to know Handsworth, he could have reached out to me, and I could have shown him around and introduced him to the people there, the great people that run businesses I know there, and some of the great community groups I know there.”
He added: “He used the colour of people’s skins to make really divisive and negative comments about Handsworth and it’s wrong, and it’s also wrong that a politician, a senior politician of a mainstream party, makes comments like this and then reiterates them, with no apology. I believe Robert Jenrick, and the leader of the Conservative Party, owe the people of Birmingham and the people in the communities of Handsworth an apology.”
Mr Jenrick was in Handsworth to film a video about litter and fly tipping for GB News. His words were recorded during a dinner at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on 14 March, The Guardian said.
According to the paper, he called the litter “appalling” and said Handsworth was “as as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country”.
He added: “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.”
The comments have also been criticised by the Bishop of Birmingham, the Right Reverend Michael Volland.
In a letter to Mr Jenrick published on Tuesday and co-signed by a number of community leaders, he said the comments “can feed into a harmful narrative that provides fuel for a fire of toxic nationalism”.
Former Tory mayor Andy Street has also said Mr Jenrick was “wrong” about Handsworth, while the Labour Party said his comments “cross a red line”.
However, Mr Jenrick stood by what he said on Tuesday, telling the Telegraph’s Daily T podcast “I didn’t see a mix of people on the streets. It was an observation”.
Asked if he had any regrets about his comments, he earlier told BBC Radio 5 Live: “No, not at all and I won’t shy away from these issues.”
Ms Badenoch also defended her shadow minister, telling BBC Breakfast he had made a “factual statement”.
She said: “If he said he didn’t see another white face, he might have been making an observation. There’s nothing wrong with making observations.
“But what he and I both agree with is that there are not enough people integrating. There are many people who are creating separate communities.”
