Robert Jenrick has doubled down on his comment about not seeing “another white face” on a visit to the Handsworth area of Birmingham, adding that it “did look like a slum”.
The shadow justice secretary defended his remarks, insisting that he “won’t shy away” from issues of integration and his comments about white faces were just an “observation”.
Speaking during a live recording of the Telegraph’s Daily T podcast at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Jenrick said there are “pockets” of towns and cities that are largely segregated and that “we should not back down” from talking about them, adding that there was not a “mix of people on the streets” when he visited.
“It did look like a slum,” he added.
Mr Jenrick has faced strong criticism over the comments, which were reportedly made during a 90-minute visit to Handsworth, Birmingham, in March. He also said: “That’s not the kind of country I want to live in”, The Guardian reported.
The Bishop of Birmingham, Right Reverend Michael Volland, branded the remarks “entirely wrong” and said he had been dismayed and disappointed to hear them.
In a letter to Mr Jenrick he said: “Comments like those you have made have the potential to generate anxiety and stir up division.
“They can feed into a harmful narrative that provides fuel for a fire of toxic nationalism.
“It is deeply unhelpful for politicians to make such comments and I encourage you to think about how your rhetoric might contribute towards unity rather than stoking division.”
Meanwhile former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said “Robert is wrong” to claim Handsworth has a problem with integration.
He told BBC Newsnight: “I was mayor for seven years and was very proud to be mayor of the most diverse place in Britain.
“To put it bluntly, Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well … It’s actually a very integrated place. If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians of African and Caribbean origin, and of course white people as well.”
It comes after Kemi Badenoch defended her former leadership rival over the remarks, insisting there was “nothing wrong” with what he said and said she took the reports “with a pinch of salt”.
Asked about the remarks on Tuesday, the Tory leader said: “The fact is these are recordings out of context, I don’t know what was being discussed before.
“In and of itself, it’s a factual statement. If he said he didn’t see another white face, he might have been making an observation. There’s nothing wrong with making observations.
“I wasn’t there, so I can’t say how many faces he saw, but the point is that there are many people in our country who are not integrating. I heard that one of the MPs of that area was accusing him of racism. I completely disagree with that. I want to make that very clear.”
Speaking at an Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on 14 March, Mr Jenrick went on to say it was “not about the colour of your skin or your faith”, but about people “living alongside each other”.
In the leaked recording, Mr Jenrick could be heard saying: “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.”
Labour Party chair Anna Turley criticised Mr 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.”
