Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has distanced himself from comments made by Robert Jenrick about not seeing “another white face” in Handsworth, Birmingham. Speaking at a Politico fringe event, Stride said: “Those are not words that I would have used.” He added that while he did not believe Jenrick was racist, he would not have chosen the same phrasing.
Stride is the first senior Conservative at the party conference to break ranks on the issue, which leadership contender Kemi Badenoch has been defending. Jenrick has faced accusations of racism after repeating the remark in an interview, with former counter extremism commissioner Dame Sara Khan calling it “a racist comment”. She argued that Jenrick’s focus on skin colour rather than integration was troubling, noting that Handsworth is home to a diverse mix of ethnicities.
Badenoch, meanwhile, defended Jenrick in a BBC interview, warning that a lack of integration could lead Britain “into a very dark place”. She cited the recent terrorist attack in Manchester as an example of failed integration. Separately, Badenoch repeatedly avoided answering whether she admires Nigel Farage, telling Sky News she was “not interested” in the Reform UK leader.
Jenrick has also come under fire for comparing Attorney General Lord Hermer to a “mafia lawyer” and calling him a “useful idiot” for Britain’s enemies, a move Labour described as an unwarranted personal attack.
