Robert Jenrick complains about ‘not seeing another white face’ during Birmingham visit

Audio caught the moment.

In a recording obtained by the Guardian, the shadow justice secretary said he had visited Handsworth to do a video on litter.

He described the area as "appalling" and "as close as I've come to a slum" in the UK.

Jenrick then said: "The other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places that I've ever been to.

"In fact, in the hour and a half that I was filming there, I didn't see another white face."

The Tory MP added that this is "not the kind of country I want to live in, I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated."

Despite having just specifically mentioned skin colour, Jenrick then says it is not "about “the colour of your skin or your faith” and he wanted people to live alongside each other."

According to Birmingham city council, the ethnicity of Handsworth is 25% Pakistani, 23% Indian, 10% Bangladeshi, 16% Black African or Black Caribbean, 10% mixed or other ethnic group and 9% white.

The comments, which Jenrick made at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association dinner on 14 March, have been criticised by Handsworth's MP and some senior Tories.

The area’s independent MP Ayoub Khan said: “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."

Labour chair Anna Turley said Jenrick needs to "explain himself urgently," suggesting he was reducing people to the colour of their skin, something Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had specifically called out during her first speech at the Tory conference.

Meanwhile, Tory politician and former West Midlands mayor Andy Street said Jenrick was "wrong" in his comments, and that Handsworth is a "very integrated place."

He told BBC Newsnight he knew the area "very well" and it had "come a hell of a long way."

Pointing to the diversity of communities who live in the neighbourhood, Street said Handsworth was "actually one of the most successful" integrated places.

Despite the criticism, Jenrick has stood by his comments. On Monday, after the recording was reported, he 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.

“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.”