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Keir Starmer has criticized the shadow justice secretary's statements about the lack of white faces in areas of Handsworth, suggesting the MP was hard to take seriously.

Leadership Campaign Accusations

Starmer implied that his comments were part of a covert Tory leadership campaign and asserted he did not believe they accurately reflected the area of the Birmingham district.

I find it difficult to regard Robert Jenrick's statements as credible; he's obviously continuing his leadership campaign.

The shadow justice secretary has been accused of fuelling a fire of toxic nationalism after he doubled down on his complaint despite backlash from figures including the former Conservative mayor of the region, the former mayor.

Local Response and Defense

Starmer, who did not directly engage the statements, said he had supported Andy Street's criticisms of the MP.

• Street had told the media the comments were wrong and portrayed the area as a very integrated place.
• In my view, Andy Street's comments were accurate, the prime minister said. Andy Street obviously was mayor for a long time and knows the area very very well.

Kemi Badenoch, defended Jenrick, saying he had made a truthful observation and that there was nothing wrong with making observations.

However, she added on 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.

Internal Divisions

Mel Stride became the initial high-ranking Conservative to disassociate from Jenrick over the statements, telling a Politico fringe event that they were phrases I would have avoided.

Jenrick repeatedly informed interviewers at the conference that he supported the comments and did not resile from them as it would be wrong to shut down an important debate that the nation needs to engage in about integration.

When a reporter suggested that his remarks could embolden far-right groups, he said it was an completely unacceptable and absurd question.

Initial Statements

In his initial comments, Jenrick 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 observed no other white individuals.

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.