Robert Jenrick today dismissed criticism for condemning the lack of integration in a Birmingham neighbourhood by saying he had not ‘seen another white face’.
Leaked audio of the shadow justice secretary making the remark about Handsworth has surfaced as he prepares to give his speech to Tory conference.
Recalling the 90-minute visit earlier this year, Mr Jenrick said ‘that’s not the kind of country I want to live in’.
However, addressing Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association on March 14 Mr Jenrick also stressed it was ‘not about the colour of your skin or your faith’ but about people ‘living alongside each other’.
Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley responded to the leak to the Guardian by accusing the Tory frontbencher of judging ‘his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around’.
But Mr Jenrick said: ‘Six separate government reports over 20 years have highlighted the problem of parallel communities and called for a frank and honest conversation about the issue.
Leaked audio of Robert Jenrick making the remark about Handsworth has surfaced as he prepares to give his speech to Tory conference
‘The situation is no better today. Unlike other politicians, I won’t shy away from this issue. We have to integrate communities if we are to be a united country.’
Immigration and integration has become an increasing focus of politics over recent months.
On Sunday Kemi Badenoch stressed the need for people who come to this country to adapt to British culture.
Speaking earlier this year, Mr Jenrick reportedly 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.
‘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.’
Ms Turley told the Guardian: ‘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.’
Former Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street told BBC Newsnight that Mr Jenrick was ‘wrong’ about the neighbourhood.
‘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,’ he said.
The ex-mayor said there was ‘incredible hope, optimism and people taking part in education which is based around British values and thinking how they can make a contribution to the future of their region their city and their area’.
‘That is not a definition of a slum,’ he added.