Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has defended remarks he made in March about the Handsworth area of Birmingham, in which he called it “one of the worst-integrated places” he had ever been to.In a recording reportedly made during a dinner and published by the Guardian, Jenrick said he had not seen “another white face” in the hour-and-a-half he spent in Handsworth filming a video about litter.Jenrick said on Tuesday he had no regrets about the language he used and would not “shy away” from issues of integration.West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said he believed Jenrick’s comments were racist, while Labour Party chair Anna Turley said they reduced people “to the colour of their skin”.Handsworth’s Independent MP Ayoub Khan said the remarks were “not only wildly false but also incredibly irresponsible”.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she did not know the context of the recording but that Jenrick may have been “making an observation” about his visit to the area.”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,” she told BBC Breakfast.”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,” she said, adding she was “very worried about what is happening in Birmingham”.The authenticity of the recording at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association is not disputed by Jenrick’s …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnShadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has defended remarks he made in March about the Handsworth area of Birmingham, in which he called it “one of the worst-integrated places” he had ever been to.In a recording reportedly made during a dinner and published by the Guardian, Jenrick said he had not seen “another white face” in the hour-and-a-half he spent in Handsworth filming a video about litter.Jenrick said on Tuesday he had no regrets about the language he used and would not “shy away” from issues of integration.West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said he believed Jenrick’s comments were racist, while Labour Party chair Anna Turley said they reduced people “to the colour of their skin”.Handsworth’s Independent MP Ayoub Khan said the remarks were “not only wildly false but also incredibly irresponsible”.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she did not know the context of the recording but that Jenrick may have been “making an observation” about his visit to the area.”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,” she told BBC Breakfast.”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,” she said, adding she was “very worried about what is happening in Birmingham”.The authenticity of the recording at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association is not disputed by Jenrick’s …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
