The shadow justice secretary was recorded making the remarks at a Conservative Association dinner in March.
According to The Guardian, he said: “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.”
On BBC’s Newsnight programme on Monday, Jenrick was condemned by Andy Street, who was the Conservative mayor of Birmingham until last year.
He said it was “a very integrated place” with people of all faiths living side by side.
He said: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well, Handsworth. It’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place.
“If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, a lot of them of African and Caribbean … origin. And of course white people as well. It is actually one of the most successfully integrated places. Brilliant civil society, brilliant faith leadership.”
Responding to Jenrick’s remarks, Labour chair Anna Turley 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.”
A senior Tory has hit back at Robert Jenrick after he said part of his city was a “slum” where he “didn’t see another white face”.
The shadow justice secretary was recorded making the remarks at a Conservative Association dinner in March.
According to The Guardian, he said: “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.”
On BBC’s Newsnight programme on Monday, Jenrick was condemned by Andy Street, who was the Conservative mayor of Birmingham until last year.
He said it was “a very integrated place” with people of all faiths living side by side.
He said: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well, Handsworth. It’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place.
“If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, a lot of them of African and Caribbean … origin. And of course white people as well. It is actually one of the most successfully integrated places. Brilliant civil society, brilliant faith leadership.”
Responding to Jenrick’s remarks, Labour chair Anna Turley 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.”
A senior Tory has hit back at Robert Jenrick after he said part of his city was a “slum” where he “didn’t see another white face”.
The shadow justice secretary was recorded making the remarks at a Conservative Association dinner in March.
According to The Guardian, he said: “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.”
On BBC’s Newsnight programme on Monday, Jenrick was condemned by Andy Street, who was the Conservative mayor of Birmingham until last year.
He said it was “a very integrated place” with people of all faiths living side by side.
He said: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well, Handsworth. It’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place.
“If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, a lot of them of African and Caribbean … origin. And of course white people as well. It is actually one of the most successfully integrated places. Brilliant civil society, brilliant faith leadership.”
Responding to Jenrick’s remarks, Labour chair Anna Turley 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.”
A senior Tory has hit back at Robert Jenrick after he said part of his city was a “slum” where he “didn’t see another white face”.
The shadow justice secretary was recorded making the remarks at a Conservative Association dinner in March.
According to The Guardian, he said: “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.”
On BBC’s Newsnight programme on Monday, Jenrick was condemned by Andy Street, who was the Conservative mayor of Birmingham until last year.
He said it was “a very integrated place” with people of all faiths living side by side.
He said: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well, Handsworth. It’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place.
“If you go along the main streets there you will see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, a lot of them of African and Caribbean … origin. And of course white people as well. It is actually one of the most successfully integrated places. Brilliant civil society, brilliant faith leadership.”
Responding to Jenrick’s remarks, Labour chair Anna Turley 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.”