Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on short visit
19:42, 06 Oct 2025Updated 19:43, 06 Oct 2025
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, doing media interviews after appearing on the BBC One current affairs programme, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Picture date: Sunday June 1, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire
The Shadow Justice Secretary has been slammed after saying he couldn’t see “another white face” on a visit to a part of Birmingham.
Robert Jenrick, who widely thought to be plotting to become Conservative leader, made the comments after a visit to Handsworth.
He said after visiting the inner-city area and not seeing any other white people, it was “not the sort of country” he wanted to live in.
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However, politicians from the city have lined up to criticise him for spreading division.
Ayoub Khan, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, which covers Handsworth, told The Guardian: “The claims made by the shadow justice secretary are not only wildly false but also incredibly irresponsible.
“He has misrepresented a storied and diverse community, awkwardly distorting the product of an all-out bin strike to fit his culture-warrior narrative filled with far-right cliches.”
Former MP Khalid Mahmood said Jenrick was “stoking divisions” and it was “absolutely not” possible to say whether an area was integrated by looking at people in the street.
While only about 10 per cent of the people living in Hansworth are white, he said it was still a great place.
“I was immensely privileged for 23 years to serve that area and they are fantastic people of all colours, creeds, religions and no religion at all in Perry Barr and Handsworth,” he said.
The pair weighed in after Mr Jenrick saw to it to reflect on his visit to Handsworth through the prysm of the skin colour of those he encountered.
He made the remarks during a dinner at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on 14 March after he had filmed a video for GB News about litter in the suburb.
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.
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“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.”
A spokesperson for Mr Jenrick declined to comment to The Guardian.
A source close to him said it was clear what he meant about integration and that he had made an observation, immediately followed by a statement that it was not about skin colour or faith.