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Keir Starmer has condemned Robert Jenrick's remarks about the lack of white faces in parts of Birmingham, suggesting the MP was difficult to regard credibly.

Political Ambitions Accusations

Starmer implied that his observations were linked to a stealth Conservative leadership campaign and said he did not believe they accurately reflected the neighborhood of Handsworth.

It’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously; he’s clearly still running his leadership campaign.

Jenrick has been criticized for igniting a wave of divisive sentiment after he doubled down on his complaint despite criticism from figures including the ex-Tory mayor of the West Midlands, the former mayor.

Community Rejection and Support

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

• Street had told BBC Newsnight the comments were incorrect and described the area as a highly cohesive community.
• 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.

The Conservative leader, supported Jenrick, saying he had made a truthful observation and that there was nothing wrong with making observations.

But she also told 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.

Party Divisions

The shadow chancellor became the first senior Tory to distance himself from his colleague over the statements, telling a Politico fringe event that they were not words that I would have used.

Jenrick repeatedly informed interviewers at the conference that he stood by the comments and did not retract 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 extremist organizations, Jenrick said it was an absolutely disgraceful and ridiculous question.

Initial Statements

In his original remarks, the MP said the area was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to. Specifically, in the 90 minutes he was filming news there 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.